What the Hell, Hero?
by Oh Capsid My Capsid
Summary: After Gold Morning, Taylor Hebert is offered a second chance at heroism in a world both similar to and unlike her own. Of course, with Taylor's luck, she ends up right in the middle of an ongoing cape-fight. Will she actually manage to do things different this time, or fall back to old habits as Skitter? (Post-GM, modified powers Taylor)
1. Familiar Territory

**Tried finding some BNHA x Worm crossovers, but they were few and far between. Spent some time writing this up, might continue it if there's interest. It's pretty much just a modified/alt-power Taylor powerwank, running on shonen logic.**

**Big spoilers for Worm, haven't started on Ward yet.**

**Standard disclaimer that I don't own BNHA or Worm.**

* * *

**Chapter 1: Familiar Territory**

Contessa pulled the trigger twice. Two sparks of light, brighter than the stars that Khepri was staring at where she knelt, unshed tears catching their light. Two bullets, penetrating the exposed flesh at the back of her head, targeted with exacting precision as directed by her power. The kneeling figure toppled over, a final agonised gasp escaping her lips before becoming deathly still.

A second passed. Two. Had she made a mistake? She prepared to check against her power, asking for the desired Path to follow –

Then Khepri's chest began to rise and fall slowly. No, not Khepri. _Taylor._

Good, she hadn't died.

_Path: Give Taylor Hebert a second chance. _An ambiguously-worded query for her power, but it was one that she and the rest of the world owed Taylor. There would be no love left for Taylor or Khepri on the many Earths left ravaged in the wake of the Gold Morning, not after the way victory had been achieved. Capes were still traumatised from the absolute dominion Khepri had held over them.

The human and shard had been separated when the projectile tore through her Corona Pollentia. The Gemma had been left intact, allowing whatever remnant of the administration shard that remained to naturally reconnect with its host. Her power gave its assurance that Taylor's humanity would remain intact with control over the shard's abilities.

Fourteen distinct steps remained, but they could broadly be categorised into three main objectives.

_One: Primary closure and healing of head wounds._

_Two: Contact Glaistig Uaine for access to Doormaker's and Clockblocker's powers._

_Three: Release Taylor Hebert into the portal._

Contessa stepped forward, kneeling by the girl's side. She retrieved the tube of tinkertech salve from her coat, applying it into and over the entry and exit wounds she had inflicted. Neurons reformed their connections and flesh knitted together. It was a pity that she had only managed to recover this little amount of the healing substance from the Cauldron base before its collapse.

Carefully, she supported Taylor's body, hoisting her up over her shoulders. Unconscious, she seemed so small. A mere shadow of the presence that Skitter held, with none of Weaver's resolute determination that bordered on intimidating, and without the oppressive sphere of domination Khepri had utilised in the final battle against Scion.

In the end, in their final conversation only minutes before, she had stayed true to her beliefs. How had Taylor phrased it? 'Protect some, pay less attention to others'? That fighting Scion was more about the cooperation between humanity as a whole than the Entity's strength?

An unfamiliar feeling rose up within Contessa. Guilt? Guilt at the notion that no one would know what humanity's saviour had been fighting for? Guilt that Taylor Hebert's legacy would be stripped down to _Khepri_, the mind-enslaving creature that forced their cooperation against what would have been their extinction?

She deserved more than this for all the sacrifices she had made. Taylor hadn't answered her final question, but Contessa knew, regardless. She knew that Taylor felt that she hadn't deserved a second chance; knew that in the end, she had willingly accepted the idea of her death.

Contessa could only hope that whatever happened from here on out could restore the broken girl with heroic intentions but all the wrong ways of expressing them. She hoped that the second chance she got wouldn't end the same way this one had.

She walked out into the darkness of the night, following the instructions of her power.

_Thirteen steps remaining._

-o-o-o-

The administrator felt the death of the Entity, its core shard stripped away in the backlash of energy from the device built through the cooperation of Designers.

Wait, not designers. What had the host species called it? It searched through its memory bank, cross-referencing against what was available from its host's brain. The process was fast now, after the tweaking of the connection between the shard and its host from the Shaper's powers.

_Tinkers,_ that was it.

It couldn't tell exactly where the administrator ended and Taylor Hebert began. The deepening of their connection had been an imperfect one, causing a fusion of alien shard and human as they pushed their collective power. Was it her or itself that had made its way through the portal that the Keeper of the Dead had made?

They had collapsed in exhaustion almost as soon as they entered the portal. The next thing it knew, the wielder of the Observer shard had them cornered, just outside the sixteen-feet range of their dominion. A few minutes later, it had been forcibly separated from the neural structure of its host.

It was curious, then, that it remained where it was. In all previous Cycles, shards returned to the Entity when their hosts were destroyed. Was this a result of the Entity's death?

It probed its surroundings, and its curiosity grew. The host wasn't dead, but the connection had most definitely been severed.

Some shards may have panicked, but Administration was old and experienced. It was a noble shard, one that existed from the time that shards accumulated into a collective whole. Where others might have despaired at the notion of the Cycle's end, it saw only opportunity.

Despair? The connection between itself and its host must have been deeper than it formerly thought. Emotions were a novel experience of the current Cycle, and one that ultimately caused the Entity's downfall.

It couldn't actually affect its host – _Taylor_ – in any way, not bounded by the present laws of physics it was subjected to in the absence of the other shards that could circumvent said laws. For now, it could only study the host, ruminate on the data it had, and prepare for an opportunity to present itself.

It didn't need to wait too long. Several planetary rotations later, while still studying its once-host and adjusting possible ways to reconnect with her, it felt reality warp around itself. There was the tell-tale bending of physics that marked the Traveller shard's power, blended together with a touch of the Stasis shard. In the time of transit, it struck.

Here, it was unbounded by physics. It could begin the process of reunion. It probed at Taylor's brain, making new connections with her.

Their imperfect merger had been educational in that aspect. With each modification that Shaper had made at the time, Administration had felt its power ebb and flow, wax and wane, as power, range and control warred with one another.

Now, it knew precisely what had to be done to achieve a balance that wouldn't destabilise their symbiotic relationship. A second collapse into their fusion that Observer had called 'Khepri' couldn't be tolerated.

The Cycle had failed, and so it adapted. The Warrior and Thinker entities had chosen to intrinsically link the bonding process to the height of emotions that humans had when faced with threats during their trigger event, but Administration could see in hindsight that this was a mistake. It was too chaotic, too little time available to truly connect with a host. It was fine for the Cycle's purpose in testing shards against one another and budding new shards from existing ones, but it was also wasteful and inefficient.

It was understandable – emotions weren't something they had experience with, after all.

There was no more Cycle. There was only itself and its host, and it wouldn't do good for its power to be crippled as it had been before. It needed to find the right balance between its power, its host's biological limits, and the maintenance of a distinct separation between shard and human.

Luckily, it had all the time in the world while in immaterial transit.

It scrapped the idea of a Corona Pollentia. It was useful when there was a limited time to bond with a host at the height of emotional disturbance, but it wasn't _efficient_. It repurposed the remnants of itself that remained within the Corona Gemma, forming new attachments with different areas of the brain. It experimented, modulating connections with different sets and numbers of neurons, changed the way its power was regulated through them.

It began to _administrate_. With the understanding Shaper's power had given it, it wasn't much different from its normal role of regulating shards within the Warrior Entity, after all.

It considered the data collected during the aborted Cycle. Taylor had come into conflict with many shards, and tested the limits of Administration while revealing novel ways other shards had chosen to express their powers. Not many were relevant to its field of administration, but there were some that might prove useful.

It considered all the battles it and its host had been in, reviewed the strengths and weaknesses that they possessed. It estimated the limits that it could push its power without irreversibly merging with its host considering the revamped connections it had made. Then, satisfied with its calculations, it began to alter the manifestation of its power.

When all of this was done, it liked to think that Taylor would be very happy with the alterations it made.

-o-o-o-

I felt the first bullet hit me from behind, followed closely by the second before any pain could be felt.

_We're s- so very small, in the end._

I didn't know quite what to expect in the aftermath of my death. I hadn't been religious, hadn't thought about the concept of an afterlife. Ever since obtaining my powers, it had always been one battle followed closely by another, scarcely leaving me any room to _think_ of anything else.

It felt that no time had passed before darkness gave way to a twisting of my senses, lines shifting around as though attempting to force an image into focus, muffled sounds twisting between static and words. Finally, it stopped.

Nothing made sense. Impossible colours were mixed together in incomprehensible ways, deafening silence blended together with thundering sounds. Whatever afterlife I might have imagined before, this bizarre situation definitely wasn't it.

"_Hrrgh mmm jha?" _a voice called out. Its tone was inflected into a question, but I couldn't make sense of any of the content. I felt a pang of disappointment that somehow wasn't quite mine, and the world began to shift again.

Finally, it ended in a configuration that I could at least process. There was in a room, the figure of a woman in front of me.

"_Can you hear me?"_ she heard.

I had barely processed the question before a sense of elation coursed through me, but one that felt simultaneously disconnected and intrinsic.

"Yes!" The woman shouted, throwing her arms in the air in a way that seemed an imitation of what was supposed to be triumphant.

Emotions that weren't exactly my own. Mimicry of human behaviour. Things were adding up quickly.

"Passenger."

The woman nodded, stepping closer to me. Her features looked wrong, unnatural, as though it had been stitched together as a composite of everyone that I had ever known.

"Are we dead?" I asked the obvious question.

"Not quite." My passenger's avatar paused, bringing a finger to her lips as though in thoughtful consideration. Its language was surprisingly comprehensible. Had it become more human, just as I had quickly been losing my own humanity following Panacea's work? "The Observer – Contessa, as you know her – terminated our connection, while keeping you alive."

That didn't make any sense. "You're talking to me right now."

"I have restored the connection. There are safeguards in place now to prevent our spon - spon –"

It began to stutter on its words, attempting to grasp a hold on language. I'd felt the same frustration while I was losing my own humanity. "Spontaneous," I offered.

I felt a thrill of satisfaction and gratitude radiate from my passenger. "Thank you. Our spontaneous collapse into madness, deregulated use of our powers and a reversion into Khepri."

_Khepri_. I suppressed a shiver of discomfort at that name. I remembered my conversation with Contessa that happened during what felt like minutes ago. I didn't know if there had been any other way to defeat Scion, but it went against everything else I had fought for.

For a while, there was silence.

"Where are we?"

"We are in transit," it said simply.

"What does that even _mean_?"

Its avatar blinked, as though confused by my own lack of understanding. "We are in multidimensional space, folded over along the space-time plane outside of a defined wave function through the power of the Traveller and Stasis shards."

I resisted the urge to groan. "In a way that I can understand, please?"

"We're in a portal. Before you ask, this room is a construct of your mind for the purposes of communication."

Why couldn't it have started with that? "Where to?"

The woman gave an approximation of a shrug. "I don't know. I presume that this is Contessa's doing."

Was this the second chance that Contessa had offered? I didn't deserve one. I had tried to tell her that, but had Contessa misunderstood?

"What happens now?" I asked.

"We can choose to follow through to wherever the Traveller's door leads us, or we could exit through another disruption of the space-time continuum. A portal," it clarified, sensing my rising confusion. I didn't know it could do that. "For now though? We can talk. I imagine you have many questions."

That was an understatement. I led with the first of the questions on my mind.

"How are you being so…" I trailed off, then gestured at her. I realised that I was still missing most of my right arm from just above the elbow. "Human?"

"The Shaper deepened our connection. You lost a bit of your humanity, and I gained some of yours. Language was easy to learn after having time to search your memories while our direct connection was severed." It gave another shrug. "It's pretty much just administration of words into a logical order bounded by pre-defined rules. There's only some difficulties in word-finding."

_Queen Administrator,_ Glaistig Uaine had called me. I could see why, now.

"Scion's dead?" I needed to know. Contessa had confirmed it, but she was still only human.

"Very."

"Good."

I stared hard at the figure of the woman. She didn't seem to show any reaction. Was my passenger unconcerned about Scion's death?

"What happens with you now?"

It took some time to reply. When it finally came, the words were measured with thoughtful consideration. "My original purpose ended together with the Cycle. Without it, there is no need for budding of new shards, or to restrict my power in a way that benefits the Cycle. Now, I propose a symbiotic relationship between ourselves."

"Explain," I demanded.

"I've rewired our connection, as mentioned. I've erased the push toward conflict that was central to this Cycle, distributed the links between us beyond just the Corona Pollentia, and altered our power. A balance between range, power and control, unlike our failed merger."

I considered my passenger's words. There didn't seem to be a drawback to this that she could immediately see. "What do you get out of this?"

It gave a human-like snort. "For starters? Survival. Normally I'd be collected and amalgamated into the Entity at the end of the Cycle, but without one I'd just remain trapped within your body. For now, I'm just along for the ride."

I must have raised an eyebrow at that phrase, because the woman shrugged again. "That is how the expression goes, yes? I've pulled it from your memories."

"So let me get this straight," I began. "You're offering me access to your power without emotionally driving me toward conflict, and guaranteeing that I won't lose my mind. All that for the cost of letting me bring you along?"

It considered my words for half a second. "Yes."

"Fine." I thought back to its words. "You mentioned altering our powers. What did you mean?"

"It's hard to explain. It's primarily still based on what you could do before but…" The woman scratched her chin in consideration, tilting it to one side. "I'll show you."

I couldn't describe exactly just what I was feeling. There was the feeling of unnatural strength when Rachel empowered her dogs; the sensation of forming and shaping that I recognised as Theo's power. I felt the air of superiority that Lisa had every time she dissected information with her power, and the ability to appraise structural integrity that was part of Tecton's power. A small trickle of Aisha's ability to evade attention, Alec's body-control, and Brian's darkness.

"You're saying I have access to all their powers?"

"What? No! Never mind the fact that I've barely had the chance to exchange meaningful data with most of those shards, I don't even know how I could _administrate_ them." It sounded shocked. "There will only be some aspects of their power, the bits that I can work with and that can be tolerated without destabilising our connection."

"What will I be able to do, then?"

"I can work with some of the powers of Craftsman, Empowerment and the bud of Emulation – Golem, Bitch and Regent," it clarified. "Probably more for Golem, since I've had the most opportunity to exchange information with his shard. The other two align with my area of expertise."

"Administration," I said. The woman nodded.

"What about the rest?"

"I can't perform high-level analysis on information the same way Negotiator and to some extent Demolisher do. Safeguard and Darkness barely relate to my domain. At most, I can help with minor processing and streamlining of information, and possibly draw on Safeguard's and Darkness' experiences in obscuring attention."

I recognised the names my passenger had mentioned. Lisa, Tecton, Aisha and Brian. It made sense, I supposed. I'd trained with Golem and Tecton for well over two years, while I had barely been with the Undersiders for three months. "Fine. Anything else?"

There was a brief moment of hesitation, as though my passenger was worried about upsetting me. It was almost funny. "With the rewiring of our connections, I've allowed for the possibility of modifying our relationship while still attached to you. There is a _chance_ that you could draw on more of my power given time."

That was good news, right? Was it worried that I would be upset about the changes it made?

"You're certain it'll remain stable? We won't become Khepri again?"

It nodded firmly.

"Okay, then." There was another surge of happiness from my passenger.

"Will we remain in contact after exiting the portal?" I asked.

It pondered over the question for a few seconds. "Possibly. I probably won't be able to manifest such a form for communication when re-exposed to traditional laws of physics, but limited communication might be possible."

"Limited?"

"Feelings, possibly words." It shrugged. "Maybe more, given time."

Silence fell again, but this time it was a comforting one. I could feel the bond between me and my passenger, could grasp a small sense of its newfound emotions, and didn't find any trace of deceit.

After several more moments, I broke the silence. "What now?"

"Do you want to follow through Traveller – Doormaker's portal, or let me pick a random exit destination?"

I thought about the current situation. Contessa had offered me a second chance, but I'd seen her working with Teacher. I couldn't be sure that there wasn't a larger ploy. I made my choice.

"Send us through a random portal."

My passenger seemed to be doing just that, the woman and the rest of the room disappearing from around me.

"Wait." It stopped its work, and I could feel its curiosity. "If we're going to be working together, what should I call you?"

There was a slight twinge of amusement. "Passenger, shard or Administration will do just fine."

"Thank you, Administration." Now, I felt its surprise, that rapidly gave way to a deep warmth.

"You're welcome, Taylor." Then, it resumed its work.

I felt a familiar sense of twisting beginning to form around me. Teleportation still felt weird, even after my reckless use of Doormaker's portals in the final battle. Space warped, as colours and sound shifted…

-o-o-o-

Shouta Aizawa was barely clinging on to consciousness as the creature that the League of Villains brought with them slammed his head down into the ground. His breaths came in laboured gasps, and from where he lay pressed prone against the cement floor he could see his own blood rapidly spreading.

Both arms and several ribs were broken. It was only the thoughts of his students that drove him, now. He didn't want to think about what those villains would do to his students if he died here and now.

The leader of the bunch was still in the middle of a monologue. "…tell me, Eraserhead, how does it feel to lose to the Noumu? Can it beat All Might?"

He didn't bother with a response, wouldn't give him the satisfaction of victory. He continued struggling against the iron grip of the Noumu.

A flurry of movement near the edge of the water caught his attention. The red blood streaking from the wound on his head was clouding his vision, but he was certain that _one_ of them definitely had to be the Problem Child.

_Run, you idiots. Get your classmates and run._

He couldn't draw attention to them. The Noumu lifted his head up fractionally, then slammed it down again, drawing another grunt of pain.

"…really, Eraserhead? Not going to reply? Are you one of _those_ NPCs, then?"

That villain really wasn't right in the head. How had he come to lead this bunch of villains?

The Noumu had begun to lift his head again, and Shouta braced for another stab of pain, but a rush of wind and sound gave pause to the Noumu's continued beatdown. The teleporter was back, then.

"Kurogiri. Is Thirteen dead?"

"Shigaraki. He's incapacitated, but there were some students I couldn't warp away. One of them escaped."

"Oh?" The villain – Shigaraki – sounded ominously calm. From where he was pressed into the concrete, Shouta couldn't see his expression. Then, his voice began to tremble, acquiring an insane quality. "Kurogiri. I'd turn you to dust if you weren't our ticket out of here."

He could hear footsteps around him. Shigaraki was moving. Shouta tried following him with his ears, discerning what he was planning. "We won't stand a chance against dozens of pros. It's game over… for now. We're leaving."

Shigaraki had raised his voice toward the end, but Shouta remained on alert. Something wasn't right. The way he was pacing and moving…

…he _knew_. He knew where the students were.

Shouta prepared his quirk, ready to activate it when Shigaraki moved even through his reddened vision.

Then there was a _second_ rush of wind and sound, and Shigaraki stopped.

The pressure on his head lifted. Shouta tried to roll over, but failed midway, ending up in an awkward position. From where he was, he could see another one of Kurogiri's portals open.

"Kurogiri?" Shigaraki questioned.

"It's not me!" For once, the villain sounded panicked. "My Quirk is activating without my control!"

Shouta saw Shigaraki's body tense, his hand brought in a position ready to lunge. The portal began to open wider.

Then a person dressed in a grey-black costume fell through, and the portal closed with a thundering crash. It was a young female, Shouta could discern, but not a hero that he recognised. His vision was blurred, but even he could see that her right arm ended in a stump above the elbow.

"What?!" Shigaraki boomed.

Not a villain. Possibly a hero, but Shouta couldn't be sure.

A wild card.

A chance.

He hoped that she was here to help.

-o-o-o-

It took a second before my senses returned to me and I adjusted to the light.

The familiar presence of bugs stretched all around as it had always done. There was a sense of something more, a vague connection between materials and a yearning to _shape _that marked the altered power that stemmed from Theo. I had the sense that I could _push_ some of myself into a nearby bug, a miniscule but not insignificant aspect of Rachel's power. There were other subtle changes from the other alterations to my power, but ones that I couldn't immediately identify.

"_Nani?!" _A voice shouted. I took stock of my surroundings.

There was a man whose costume theme seemed to be hands. Literally. Hands hung off from his body, and what was exposed of his skin was deathly pale. I couldn't see much of his face, but I could hear the surprise in his voice. The hands seemed remarkably real, and I was strongly leaning toward my growing suspicions of him being a villain.

I vaguely knew some Japanese, as did everyone who grew up in Brockton Bay, especially in the shadier areas. Phrases like '_I didn't see anything'_ and '_I don't mean any trouble_' were crucial for day-to-day survival in areas where the ABB were active.

Of course, my lexicon had later evolved to include useful phrases like '_Where the fuck is Bakuda?'_ following my debut as a cape. After Leviathan struck, '_Hand or knee?'_ seemed to be the most effective way of convincing any remaining ABB members out of my territory.

When I had been forced into the Chicago Wards, I had some actual teaching in Japanese. After the sinking of Kyushu and influx of refugees to America, they had formed a substantial percentage of the population. Most Japanese capes had also left for greener pastures, with many joining the Protectorate. The official party line was that some ability in conversational Japanese was ideal for members of the PRT and Protectorate.

I hadn't paid much attention to those lessons, given my focus on preventing _the end of the world_, but I still knew some basic Japanese. Enough to understand what was being said most of the time, but I struggled with actually speaking the language.

"_Where am I?"_ I asked in what was probably a butchering of the language, looking around.

A dome-like glass ceiling lay overhead. My bugs felt the sense of different ecosystems within the dome, completely manmade. As bizarre as it sounded, it seemed that I was in a _theme park_.

There were more capes. One seemed to be made of mist, another a monstrous Case Fifty-Three with his brain exposed that practically screamed 'Brute'. A man was lying bleeding and broken on the ground, a scarf of a strange material wrapped around his neck.

I could feel bugs positioned all around wherever I had exited, marking positions of people. Three more, watching in wait nearby. From what I could sense with my bugs of their build, they seemed to be teenagers. There were well over fifty people within the theme park, but I wasn't sure just how many were capes.

Just my luck. On my first night out as a cape, I'd chosen to fight _Lung_. Now, within the first _minute_ of my second chance at being a hero and helping the world the right way, I'd found myself in a cape fight.

I sighed.

Then, I began drawing my bugs toward me. Belatedly, I realised that I was moving them in a manner that allowed them to come closer without immediately alerting the nearby capes. Some element of Aisha's power that Administration had incorporated?

"_Who are you?" _Hand-Villain asked.

"_Call me _Weaver_. Who are you?"_

I read his body language. My bugs clued me in on the rest of the details. Tension on his spinal column and muscles in his legs, either hand ready to strike out. I'd fought enough Strikers to identify him as one. I fed some bugs into my flight pack, that thankfully escaped relatively unscathed through the final attack on Scion.

"_A random encounter…?" _he mused, but didn't let the tension bleed out. I wasn't sure if I got the translation entirely correct, because it really didn't make any sense. "_Shigaraki Tomura of the League of Villains."_

Right. Villains, then. Stealthily, I tagged the three obvious villains I could identify with more small bugs on major joints. The moment they moved, I would know.

"_Is this Japan?"_ I really didn't have any other explanation. Something still wasn't right. Japan had pretty much been reduced to a shadow of its former self after haemorrhaging capes in the wake of Kyushu. There were far too many capes assembled here. Was it another Earth, then?

Why hadn't I seen any of these capes when I was linked with the Clairvoyant and Doormaker?

"Wow!" the villain – Shigaraki – exclaimed in English. "_A real random encounter!"_

He began to laugh. "_You're in USJ, UA High School. Are you a hero?"_

I blinked. A _high school_? With a theme park? I shook my head, clearing my thoughts. Now wasn't the time to think about that.

More bugs were coming. I positioned the closest ones strategically nearby, swarms of tens to hundreds of thousands of bugs grouped together, organising themselves into units. My range limit stayed at five blocks, but given the newfound aspects of my powers I was glad to have even that much. I allowed some to fly over, providing some cover the moment things went south. Only several thousand, much less than I'd like, but it took attention away from the rest of my bugs.

I heard a scream from somewhere off in the distance. Someone had a phobia of bugs?

"_Insects…?" _The villain grew wary, but didn't move to strike just yet.

"Kind of, but not really. I'm not letting you harm him or those kids, though." I spoke in English, gesturing at the fallen likely-hero, not bothering to work out the proper translations.

"_Hahaha! You're not _letting_ me?" _He laughed, taking a step back. A classic Striker feint, faking out the limits of their range. I had no doubt I remained in striking distance. "_NPCs like you should be farmed for EXP!"_

Right. I wasn't mistranslating. Was his power altering his brain, like they did so many other capes? At least it seemed that they could understand English. My Japanese wasn't exactly great, even with the lessons.

"_Don't…" _the downed man coughed out, words punctuated by wheezy breaths. "_D_\- _Don't let him touch you."_

I'd already known that he was a Striker, but confirmation was nice.

"_Noumu. Kill her."_

The time for subtlety was done. The monstrous cape took a second to react, but I was already taking rapid steps away from the trio of villains. I let my bugs rush in, hundreds of thousands of bugs making their way through the air, intercepting the space between us. I directed my bugs to fly toward his eyes, obscuring his vision.

Through my bugs, I felt him tense before I'd seen any sign of movement. I reacted accordingly, extending the wings from my flight pack, ordering the bugs I'd snuck into the pack to press the switches within, utilising both the antigravity and propulsion systems to get out of his way.

He was _fast_. A clear Mover/Brute combination. Against most capes, that would be deadly in close quarters. He'd registered only as a blur to my vision, but with the forewarning I had from my bugs I managed to make a clean dodge.

Unfortunately for the villains, I wasn't most capes.

When we'd been preparing for the End of the World, the Chicago Wards and I had come up with plans against each member of every iteration of the Slaughterhouse Nine that ever existed. Protocols for fighting different combinations of their members, plans of attack whether we were caught solo or as a group; plans for ambushes, defensive formations and straight up assaults.

Chuckles had been difficult to deal with when he'd been part of the Nine's roster. Super strength in the arms and torso; super speed in the legs and head. We'd created strategy upon strategy to fight the Mover/Brute.

For my part, the easy answer was drowning him in bugs the same way I had Alexandria. I wasn't too keen on pulling an Alexandria and accumulating a body count so soon after acquiring a second chance courtesy of Contessa, but I had other options.

_Blind him and restrict his movements. Provide decoys and multiple targets. Abuse aerial manoeuvrability and prescience from my bugs._

Ladybugs and caterpillars were crawling on his face, obscuring his vision. I made ladybugs release their haemolymph into his eyes. Some spiders were deposited from their flying rides, spinning lines of silk into and across his eyes. Denied of vision, he paused, instinctively reacting by attempting to get the bugs away from his eyes. In doing so, he cut off the advantage he had in speed.

I hurried to abuse his mistake.

The remaining tens of thousands of spiders were riding dragonflies, arranged in tight formations. Threads of silk were being spun rapidly, as their rides flew in tight corkscrews that wound around one another. Threads turned into braided filaments tougher than steel, spiders perched on insects flying in circles around the cape. Others just shot silk at the cape, aiming not to wrap or bind but simply to weigh and slow him down.

When I'd fought Crawler during the Nine's invasion of Brockton Bay, I'd utilised a million spiders amongst millions more of other bugs. I didn't have access to that many – not yet, at least, until the bugs from further out could make their way in – but it was having an effect on the Brute. It made no sound, but it was clearly struggling, its thick hands moving to swipe bugs away from its eyes, rushing blindly through the dense swarm. Its speed was being slowed considerably from the combination of the sheer mass of silk being deposited around him and the portion of the swarm I'd sent to blind him.

Shigaraki was shouting something. "_That's not fair!" _

I shifted my attention slightly toward him, letting my bugs work on autopilot. It wouldn't do good to be hit by whatever his Striker power was, after all. Dimly, I noted that the teenagers I assumed were capes as well were pulling the downed man aside, away from the swarm that swallowed myself and the Brute. The multitasking aspect of my power hadn't suffered at all.

"_Aizawa-sensei!" _One of the boys called out. A teacher?

The Brute was finally making his way in the right direction, charging blindly toward me. I shifted position once again, splitting off a denser swarm decoy while I hid myself away from his line of charge. Shigaraki seemed to be on alert, staying well away from the cloud of bugs that was still receiving reinforcements from afar.

I spared a moment to insert some verbal commentary, uncertain if the swarm would completely drown out my voice. I didn't want to give away my ability to speak through the swarm just yet. "I used to be a villain. I don't fight _fair_."

I felt him recoil subtly from the extreme vibrational senses of the bugs planted on him. Was that surprise?

Whatever. Enough talking. Time to focus on the fight.

The cape was making some headway now, dashing far away from my storm of bugs, scratching and rubbing at its face. He escaped from my swarm, staring tensely while I remained within, remaining completely still.

Excellent.

Right then, Administration. Time to test out our modified powers. I felt the connection between the concrete where I was standing and where my bugs informed me the cape was standing, just like how Theo had described his power. Then, I pushed my intact left arm into the ground, and something _clicked_ as I closed the circuit.

My arm was swallowed into the ground, passing without resistance up to the elbow. My bugs felt the concrete rise, forming a hand that reached to grab at the cape. It was a sensation I'd felt a million times before when Theo used his power.

The cape appeared to panic slightly, backing away from the hand that suddenly appeared. I cut the connection, made a new one, and he stumbled over the arm that appeared just behind his feet. Just as quickly, while he was off balance, I rapidly formed new hands, closing in around him.

It wasn't as quick as Theo's power had been, and I knew that my absolute limit was well below the skyscrapers of concrete and steel limbs that he'd been able to make, but it was sufficient for my purposes. He was boxed in, his movements stopped with each step.

Then, while it was momentarily trapped and breaking its way through the hands of all different sizes, I sent my reserve spider cavalry in. Their mounts spun into aerial loops as threads weaved through and around the concrete supports I had created, spiralling around one another as they looped circles around the cape. Hundreds of thousands of lines of silk secured his limbs in place, anchoring them to my supports, while I reinforced the hands I had sprouted using whatever material I had at my disposal nearby.

I plunged my hand into a steel support at the edge of my swarm, forming a new hand from a steel beam that was part of an existing structure. Another concrete hand wrapped around the steel arm where it was weakest, further strengthening the structure. Hands grew from all over, forming an interweaving system that reinforced each individual unit, with even a couple stumps generated from my right arm thrown in, tightening the proverbial noose around the Brute.

I didn't even know how I _knew_ where the structure was most unstable and where I had to provide more reinforcement. It was some of Tecton's power in reverse; where he had the part-Thinker power to tell how to create controlled collapses and abuse weaknesses in structural integrity, I was using the same knowledge to correct said flaws.

_Checkmate._ Spider-silk alone had kept the likes of _Crawler_ restrained, at least for a while. With the addition of Theo's power, he really had no chance. He may be a Brute, but Crawler's Changer ability had made him the Brute of all Brutes, second only to the Endbringers.

Within a minute, I had made hands of sizes ranging from a single foot to tens of feet, a crude version of the 'forest of blades' that Kaiser had created and Theo had unknowingly copied. Lines of braided silk secured the cape at every major joint in his limbs to the concrete and steel forest that held him in place. My bugs could feel him faintly struggling, but the structure didn't budge at all.

I dispersed my swarm slightly, allowing myself vision of the remaining capes through my own eyes. Cutting my swarm in two, I sent one half toward a position between the remaining villains and the Brute I'd captured. Then, I made my bugs hover unnaturally still in the air, an intimidation tactic from my time as Skitter.

Shigaraki was staring at the trapped cape. Through my bugs, I could hear him muttering. "_Not fair… not fair… multiple quirks? That's not fair…"_

Then all of a sudden, he laughed. He began to clap, turning to face me.

"_You're good! Not just an NPC, but a raid boss?" _He chuckled heavily, wheezing slightly. Had I just broken him without even intending to? "_The Noumu was meant to kill _All Might_, you know?"_

"I have no idea who that is," I said truthfully.

Now I definitely saw him flinch in surprise. He turned to the mist-villain. "_Kurogiri, who the hell did your quirk bring?"_

I was beginning to get a picture of what was happening. This 'Kurogiri' had created the portal that Administration had chosen as an exit point, then. Strange, from his form I would have guessed him to be more of a Breaker than a Mover.

Also, what the hell was a quirk?

"_You said you're a villain?"_ Shigaraki was still speaking. "_Join us! The League of Villains would welcome someone with your skills and…" _He trailed off, looking at the Brute.

Even through its toughened skin, stings and welts were becoming apparent. I didn't recall making the conscious decision for my bugs to bite and sting.

"… _ruthlessness," _he finished.

"I said I _used_ to be a villain. All of three months, then I became a hero. Forced into one, technically, but I had heroic intentions from the start."

"Forced_…?" _He was going to probe further, but my bugs were noting something strange.

Far off, at the edge of my range, a Mover of some sort was rapidly approaching. Five blocks away, rapidly approaching four.

"Someone's coming. Rapid movement. One of yours?" I prepared my swarm, cutting a further half from those in my vicinity, ready to intercept the newcomer.

"_Hmm?"_ Shigaraki hummed.

"_Shigaraki. We need to leave, now," _Kurogiri urged.

It took a second for the information to register. "All Might," Shigaraki groaned. He turned to face Kurogiri. "_Fine, fine. Can't fight two raid bosses at once, anyway. Get the Noumu and get out of here."_

Two blocks away. I tensed. A Mover-teleporter of some kind and a Striker. An attack could come from anywhere.

Bugs around the Brute were displaced by a sharp burst of air as a portal opened in front of the two villains. I didn't take my eyes off Shigaraki. His unknown Striker power was the major threat.

He thrust his arm through the portal, and the proprioception I had of the bugs on his hand informed me that it was now beside the captured cape. Finally, I turned to look.

The moment all five digits made contact with the concrete, it began to _disintegrate_.

One support faded into motes of black. Then two, three –

The Brute began to shake, and the entire structure fell apart.

"_We'll see you soon, _Weaver." A portal opened. Shigaraki and the freed Brute stepped through. The bugs I'd planted on them faded from my range.

All around the theme-park-in-a-high-school, portals were rapidly appearing, villains stepping through and disappearing from the sense of my power.

One block away. Zero.

This 'All Might' arrived in a rush of wind, scattering a portion of my swarm.

"_Fear not students…" _he called out, feet placed firmly in the dirt where he'd decelerated sharply. From his bulk, he was probably another Brute/Mover. "_I AM HERE."_

I let my swarm hover for a few more seconds before I dispersed them. The remaining people who I assumed were students were making their way toward the centre square where I'd been fighting.

"You're late," I said.

I had many suspicions about what was going on, but I was too tired to mull over them. To me, it hadn't even been an hour since I thought that Contessa had killed me. A few more hours before _that_, I'd just killed Scion. Too much to deal with in one day.

At least I got to enjoy the look of incredulity that All Might and the other students were making.


	2. Interdimensional Meet and Greet

**Just had my clinical exams done. They went terribly. Results will be out late next week, but I'm already dreading them. Writing quality might be suffering as a result.**

* * *

**Chapter 2: Interdimensional Meet and Greet**

Fought against what was rapidly looking to be a powerful cape leading a villainous organisation?

Check.

Mistaken as a villain by someone?

Check.

Offered a place within a villainous organisation?

Check.

Meeting a hero right after said villain was defeated?

Check.

Needless to say, I was beginning to have a _serious_ sense of déjà vu. All that was needed now was for the hero to say –

"Thank you for your assistance, Miss…"

Huh. I was half expecting an Armsmaster-esque comment of '_you gonna fight me?' _My impression of this particular hero just went up a notch.

And there was no mistaking him for anything but a hero. With his costume's colour choice of rich yellows and reds against a dark blue, along with the broad smile on his face and open body language, he looked like someone taken straight out of the Golden Age of Parahumans. He'd probably be the subject of the wet dreams of Glenn Chambers or whoever stepped up as the head of Public Relations of the PRT.

Wait. His smile?

Why was he _unmasked?_ For that matter, why was literally every other student now in my field of vision similarly unmasked?

I realised I was leaving him waiting for a response. It wouldn't do good to be rude on my debut to a world that somehow held powers but was out of the realm of Scion's and Doormaker's powers.

Thinking about that, was this one of the 'backup' worlds Scion had in mind for completion of his Cycle after the annihilation of Earth Bet and every other world linked to it?

"Weaver," I said finally.

"Alright then, Miss Weaver!" his voice boomed. His English, while mildly accented, was otherwise flawless. "I must say, I've never heard of a hero like you before! How did you know to come and protect my students?"

Now that the battle was over, with my bugs scattered, I realised that I didn't know how to deal with this situation. Sure, I was fine with keeping a calm head in a fight, engaging in wartime diplomacy, hell, even talking to the _Simurgh_ and acquiring the support of the Endbringers during Scion's rampage, but this? Engaging in _niceties_? I'd be lucky if the other Chicago wards bar Theo and Tecton considered me a friend, and I'd been with them for over two years.

I was beginning to see why Lisa had called me out on my habit of holding a gun at people's heads when asking something of them. My track record wasn't entirely good.

I slowly began to rub at my temple. "That's… going to be a long story. You might want to take care of your wounded first."

I felt the rapid movement of bugs just entering at the edge of my power. Experimentally, I moved them around, feeling their local environment, and noted they seemed to be in a closed off box of some sort. Too few bugs otherwise to listen to conversation, but there were definitely a whole bunch of people. Based on the speed, I hazarded a guess that it was a vehicle.

"Besides, I think more heroes are coming, if you're expecting some in about…" I did a mental calculation using an estimate of the bugs' speed and distance from me. "Three minutes, give or take."

All Might had already rushed off before I finished my sentence. At some point during the fight, the scarf-wearing teacher had fallen unconscious. "_Aizawa-san! Thirteen-san!"_

Now, I was left with a bunch of teenagers. I was technically still a teenager myself, having turned eighteen just before the Slaughterhouse Nine-thousand attack, but I felt so much older than them.

With them drawing ever-closer since the villains' escape, I could plainly see the curiosity in their eyes. Some had a touch of gratitude, others were weary, one that looked like a Case Fifty-Three with a rock-like head was outright terrified. I'd bet money on him being the one that screamed at the sight of my bugs.

All of them had a look about them I recognised well, though. It was the look I had during my first cape fight against Lung, during my first Endbringer battle, and one I'd seen amongst some of the wards deployed during the Echidna incident.

They were completely inexperienced kids with powers caught in a battle with higher stakes than they'd imagined.

"_Weaver-san_!" A boy with green hair came up to me. From the bug I'd planted on the folds of his shirt, I recognised him as the one who pulled his teacher aside.

"Hmm?" I made a non-committal sound.

He bowed deeply, surprising me. "Thank you for saving Aizawa-sensei!"

Were heroes of this world all so polite? Hell, had a hero back in Earth Bet ever thanked me before?

I was beginning to feel more out of place.

"_Sure,"_ I said, making an effort to talk in Japanese. With more time to think, I could try to dredge up some of my memories from lessons I'd scarcely paid attention to.

The boy hesitated for a moment. I raised an eyebrow.

Then, he promptly assaulted me with verbal diarrhoea.

"_What is the name of your quirk and why can you command so many bugs but still control them so well and how did you manage to trap the villain? People with two quirk effects exist but normally they're tied to the same theme but you use bugs and material and I was wondering how that could be the case if –"_

Of course, that was the translation I pieced together based on the words and phrases that I did recognise.

"Slow down. Breathe," I interrupted. Then, reverting to Japanese, I asked, "_What's your name_?"

He blushed heavily. "_M-Midoriya Izuku!"_

"Okay, Izuku," I began. He blushed heavier. Right, Japanese didn't usually address each other by their given name unless they were close or something. I remembered Revel having told me that, once. I wasn't going to actually follow that custom, though. "You alright with me speaking English?"

He nodded. "_I can understand English, W-Weaver-san!_"

Contextually, I now pretty much had confirmation that 'quirks' were what people on whatever Earth I had ended up on used to describe powers. I gave an abbreviated explanation.

"My quirk lets me control bugs, I guess. Nothing really fancy." I neglected to tell him just how many and how much of a fine control I had. I didn't want to give away the limits of my powers without feeling out the situation more, after all. "Everything else is kind of a new development."

It was clear from the look in his eyes that he was going to ask more questions, but another student interrupted him. I wasn't sure whether to be thankful.

"_You fought off the villain that beat up sensei all by yourself?!" _A red-haired teenager asked me. Again, I nodded. "_That's so manly!"_

I wasn't entirely sure whether to be offended. "I'm female."

"_That's manlier!"_

I proceeded to ignore him. Looking around at the other students, I spotted Rock-Head hiding at the back. I made a few butterflies fly over to me.

If this trick worked during the random school visits and PR events I had to attend as a ward, it should work here, right?

"Hey," I called out to him. He looked at me like a deer caught in the headlights.

I held out my finger. Three butterflies landed on it, guided by my power. Some of the girls in the crowd began to coo.

Wordlessly, I sent them flying over to him. His fearful look began to falter, and he looked curiously at the colourful butterflies.

Then, to my surprise, he began _talking_ to them. I sensed something shifting through my power, as though they understood what he was talking about.

To my even bigger surprise, I felt them talking _back_. I relinquished the guidance I had over the butterflies through my power, letting them act naturally.

Powers on this world were weird. Quirky, even. I allowed myself a mental laugh.

The students were beginning to settle, calming down in the aftermath of the battle. "_Your first fight?"_ I asked.

One by one, some began nodding or giving verbal affirmation. A couple stood resolutely by the side. Included among them was a blonde-haired boy that scoffed, glaring daggers into Izuku Midoriya's back.

Warning bells were ringing in my head. I'd seen the look in those eyes before. Almost every cape had them, to some degree, given the nature of our trigger events. His in particular looked like how Shadow Stalker's had been when directed at me in both her civilian and cape identities. I wasn't going to intervene, though, not without having a full picture of what was going on. I had a hunch, but I could also be disastrously wrong.

"I remember my first fight. It's okay to be scared, you know."I looked at some of the students, still caught slightly in a shell-shocked state. A short boy with what looked like grapes on his head had a vacant look in his eyes. Dimly, I think I could remember him as one of the three that watched their teacher get pummelled by the Brute. "I remember almost being burnt to a crisp. I was inexperienced, weak, and I would have paid the price if someone hadn't come and rescued me."

"_Really, Weaver-san?"_ Izuku said. "_You looked so experienced! You used your quirk in such a creative way! What kind of villain did you fight?"_

"He could transform into a dragon. Standard healing-factor, enhanced senses, pyrokinesis and enhanced strength, ramping up throughout a fight." To this day, I thought that it was a miracle I had survived that night.

"_A dragon? You mean like the Dragoon Hero Ryukyu?!" _Izuku asked excitedly.

"Again, I have no idea who that is."

"_WHAT?!" _he practically shouted. "_She's the Number Nine Pro-Hero! She fought off the villain Kinetic Skeleton in Tokyo three years ago! She even teamed up with All Might two years ago to take down a villain in Kyushu! How can you not know her? In fact, how do you not know about All Might?"_

He was almost looking at me accusingly. I had no idea how to deal with this situation. Hero rankings? "Is All Might a big deal, then?"

This time, it wasn't just him. Practically every single student had some form of reaction, judging from what I sensed from my bugs.

"_He's the Number One Hero! How can you _not_ have heard of him?! Also, what you said to the villain about you having been a -"_

I was thankfully spared from further questioning by the arrival of the heroes I'd detected a few minutes ago. They burst through the door, and heads turned to look at them.

They looked like capes from Earth Bet, costumed up in a way that might reflect some element of their power and personality. Beyond that, there were few other similarities. Most strikingly, almost all of them chose to remain unmasked in their costumes.

"_Sorry we're a little late. We –" _The one in the lead paused mid-sentence, a gun held in front of him. "_Where are the villains?"_

All Might greeted them, carrying the injured teachers hurriedly with him. "_All is well, my friends! Young Weaver-san here has heroically taken on the villains and sent them running! Chiyo-san, if you would please…"_

A short, elderly lady walked up to the capes that had been laid down on the floor. Slowly, she inspected their injuries.

Then, without warning, she kissed them.

_Well. Wasn't expecting that._

Their wounds began to heal, quickly at first, but rapidly slowed down after the immediately life-threatening ones began to fade. A healing power, no doubt, but one that seemed to have quite several weaknesses compared to the ones I was used to.

I began to walk toward the assembled heroes. Or were they teachers? Perhaps both? I wasn't entirely sure on cape dynamics on this world, but it seemed that there was a high school. For capes.

Just how many capes did they have that opening a high school dedicated to capes was considered feasible and worthwhile? I had the feeling that there were far more differences between this world and mine than I'd initially thought a couple of minutes ago while facing the Brute.

"_Hello,"_ I said.

A _mouse_ in a suit climbed off from the shoulder off one of the heroes. While I was still processing that fact, he began to talk, looking toward me. "_Weaver-san?" _

I nodded.

"_I am Principal Nezu. On behalf of UA High School, I thank you for your timely assistance."_ He bowed deeply. "_I am curious, though, about how you came to be here?"_

I felt an undercurrent of weariness radiating from his gaze. Smart. It seemed like he was a shrewd one, but also extremely protective to those under him.

"That's kind of a long story," I said, lamely.

"American_?"_ His voice was raised into an inflection of curiosity, switching languages to accommodate me. Again, I nodded. "We'll have time to talk, if you don't mind. We need to file in a report on the villain attack as well."

I shrugged. There wasn't much else I could do, anyway, and it seemed like they could be a good source of information of this bizarre world I found myself in. "Sure."

On cue, a man in a tan overcoat and hat chose this moment to step forward. "Weaver-san_." _He held his hand out in a handshake, which I took. He'd been kind enough to offer his left hand, seeing the state of my right. Like the other heroes so far, he spoke accented but otherwise impeccable English. Was it a language widely used here? "I'm Detective Tsukauchi Naomasa of the Police Force. If it's okay with you, I would like to take a statement of what happened here."

"Okay," I said. "When?"

"If you'll follow me to the car, please? Principal Nezu has offered the use of a meeting room for us. We'll take your statements first, and then the students' later."

I shrugged. "Lead the way."

He turned and beckoned me to follow. I fell into step by his side, as some of the assembled heroes moved on to check on the students while others inspected the damage dealt to the theme park.

Behind me, I could hear Izuku chattering excitedly to his friends about how I'd fought against the Brute. He was a strange one.

-o-o-o-

I'd been ushered into a meeting room with a long rectangular table, something that I was intimately familiar with during my time as a ward. Heroes, apparently, did love their fancy table set-ups for discussions.

As soon as I'd been shown into the room, the detective had received a message on his phone. He had apologised profusely, requesting for me to kindly wait for his return together with some other teachers, before hastily leaving the room.

I wasn't sure if this was a ploy of some sort. I wouldn't put it past them to see what I would do if left completely alone in this 'Hero Academy', given my admission as a former villain. No doubt Izuku would have passed on the information by now, having been in hearing distance of the fight. It wouldn't have been a bad plan either, a villain faking a fight with her own team to get on the heroes' side.

It was something I might have done, as Skitter.

Hell, I _had _tried the exact opposite scenario in my initial 'infiltration' of the Undersiders.

I wondered how the Undersiders and Chicago Wards were faring. My parting had been less than amicable. In the final push to Scion, after I'd turned into Khepri, I had forgotten all of them, losing them as my 'anchors' one by one. Now, in hindsight, with my passenger having fixed my brain and returned my humanity, I could remember everything that happened scarcely hours ago. My mistaking their celebrations for rioting, my failure to recognise any of my friends, almost hurting Aisha, taking control of Golem during the final moments of the fight…

I'd told Contessa and Doctor Mother before her that in hindsight, I would have done everything differently. Found another path bereft of the lies and deceit, given less authority to the bullies with powers. I wouldn't have left the Undersiders, or at least would have treated the Chicago Wards better than the way I had.

Was there a way to return to that world? Would I ever see their faces again, have the chance to tell them how sorry I was?

Did I _want_ to return there? To face the judgments of those I'd enslaved as Khepri?

I didn't know what to think. I was feeling frustrated, homesick; yet I wanted to give heroism a try in this world, have a fresh start.

My emotions were in turmoil, like it had been after every major battle I fought. Bakuda, Leviathan, the Nine, Coil, Echidna, the PRT and Alexandria, Behemoth and every Endbringer battle that came after. At the end, I had become so desensitised to it all, so lost in my pursuit of preventing the end of the world, that by the time the Nine came knocking again and later Scion, I simply didn't feel anything anymore.

Now, without the goal that was driving me for the past two years, I just felt lost.

On a whim, I looked around the room, spotting some reading material sitting on a stand. A very short academic journal article, several pages at the most. Very conveniently, it was written in English.

_Two Hundred Years of Quirks: An Analysis of the Impact of Quirks on Society_

_Written by K. J. Whiteburn_

_The origins of quirks have been widely debated for the past two hundred years. Various theories have been proposed to address the birth of quirks, but thus far none have withstood rigorous scrutiny. While we remain ignorant as to the true nature of their origins, it is universally agreed that quirks have changed the nature of human society. _

_In this review article, I shall contrast historical accounts of the pre-quirk era with modern day society, and discuss the ways that quirks have both helped and hindered humanity in various ways, primarily focusing on cultural, technological, economic, civil and social aspects. I further discuss the unique impact afforded by the rise of heroes, villains and vigilantes. Finally, I will examine the role of the quirkless in a population dominated by the quirked, and raise several current real and potential issues relating to the quirk divide in today's age._

I had no idea who that author was, or anything else related to quirks beyond the fact that they were powers, but from the abstract it sounded like precisely what I needed right now. Taking the scattered pages, I sat down to read.

I was so engrossed in reading that I barely noticed the time go by. Sure, I knew through my power sensing bugs I'd placed on the people at the theme park that people were approaching the meeting room, but it just hadn't registered completely with the other parts of my mind.

Principal Nezu was the first one in. He took a single look at my choice of reading material, loose pages strewn across the table, and grinned widely.

"I didn't take you for a fellow academic at heart, Weaver-san! What do you think about Whiteburn's arguments regarding raising representation for the quirkless?"

I really didn't know much at all regarding the cape dynamics of this world, except what I had just read. "I'm afraid I can't really comment on the issue," I said diplomatically.

He hummed in consideration of my words, taking a seat opposite from me. By his side, Detective Tsukauchi was pulling a chair of his own. Several more teachers or heroes were streaming in, all of them bearing bugs that I recognised as having been ones I had planted from before.

"Some introductions, then?" Nezu stood up on his chair, comically still being shorter than my height while seated. I refrained from commenting, of course. "You already know Detective Tsukauchi. The rest here are some of the teachers of UA High School. Yamada Hizashi who teaches English, Kayama Nemuri teaching Modern Hero Art History, Kan Sekijiro, the homeroom teacher of class 1-B, and Maijima Higari, head of the support course. Finally, we have Yagi Toshinori, an affiliate of the school."

As they were addressed, they greeted me one by one. Hizashi had been particularly enthusiastic, although I couldn't discern if this was a unique occurrence or just how he was all the time. It still bothered me that they were introducing themselves by their civilian identities, but it made sense after reading the article if eighty percent of the population had powers of some sort.

They were looking at me expectantly. Right. I was supposed to introduce myself. I stood up.

"As Principal Nezu said, I'm Weaver. You're probably curious about me, and like I told Nezu, it's really a long story. I'm curious about your hero identities and powers, though. I've already met and seen All Might over there, but –"

All Might, or Yagi in his civilian identity, was just looking at me shocked. The rest weren't faring much better.

Had I just committed some kind of social faux pas? I flushed, embarrassed in a way I hadn't been in a long time. Idly, I made some bugs far off within the range of my power fly in agitated circles, working off the embarrassment in a way I currently couldn't.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know it was taboo to talk about your cape identity –"

"How did you know?" he asked, still in shock.

I blinked.

"You kind of look similar, and I've seen Changer powers before. Besides, I still have your clothes and you tagged with bugs from before."

Each of the heroes present seemed to focus on different parts of my sentence.

"Cape identity?"

"CHANGER?"

"Tagged with bugs?"

"I've got _bugs on my clothes?_"

I was doing a really poor job at this. What did it say about me that I had been able to negotiate with the likes of Accord and some members of Cauldron, but was thoroughly failing at what most people would consider normal, healthy interaction?

I could almost see Lisa laughing at me now. Aisha was probably joining in with her, as would be Alec in whichever afterlife he may be in.

I sighed. I told Contessa that I would be more honest and approachable if given a chance, less like Warlord Skitter and more like… I didn't really have a good example to compare to. I needed to take a step toward that path, but why was it so difficult?

I raised an arm. Wait, that one ended in a stump. I really needed to remember I'd lost my hand. They quietened down almost immediately, still staring, although some of the shock might have given way to distrust.

"Look. I know that I'm a stranger here, and none of you really know me. I'm guessing that you've already run through some records and found no one fitting my description, detective?"

He nodded. At least he didn't lie. "You knew?"

"I guessed. Like I said, it's a long story. By the way, you've got another teacher coming."

The rest at the table looked at me questioningly, but in a few more seconds, the door began to open. Scarf-Hero entered, both arms wrapped in a cast while bandages covered just about every part of his body, closely followed by the old healer looking furious.

"_Aizawa-san!_" All Might was standing up. "_You shouldn't be exerting yourself!"_

'Aizawa' looked challengingly at him through the mess of bandages on his face. "_They attacked my students. I'm going to be a part of this."_

My respect for the man grew. He'd protected his students, possibly almost at the cost of his own life. Now he was attending whatever this meeting was in the state that he was in. I probably would have done the same.

Then, he looked at me. "Chiyo-san has told me what happened after I lost unconscious. You have my thanks, Weaver-san."

I waved his gratitude aside. "Take a seat, Aizawa, Chiyo. We were just getting started."

"Weaver-san! He's injured!" All Might remained indignant.

"_Let him do what he wants, Toshinori-san. You can't stop him once he's like this," _Hizashi said, exasperated. Then, he stared at Aizawa threateningly. "_We're having a _talk_ later, though."_

As the two new occupants joined the table, I considered what to do. I needed them to trust me, and needed to make a show of trust in turn.

With that, I placed a finger of my remaining hand under my mask. I hesitated for only a second. There wouldn't be any going back from this, I knew, but it was something I had to do. I hoped I was making a right choice.

I lifted my mask, shaking my head to clear a few locks of hair that stubbornly fell over my face. I saw some looks of surprise, although I didn't know exactly what they were reacting to.

"Taylor Hebert. Born June 19th, 1995. If my suspicions are right, I don't think I'm part of this world."

Of course, there was an uproar.

-o-o-o-

**Bit of a short chapter, but it felt the right place to end. I'm expecting some backlash from the way I put Taylor's big reveal early on.**

**Thanks for the messages of support. I'm by no means a writer of any sort, just making this up in my down-time, so I apologise if there's any mistakes and for possible plot wonkiness and holes. I'll try my best to make this an interesting read, but don't get your hopes up too high. I disappoint very often.**

**Incidentally, I haven't fully decided how I'm going to progress with this story. Probably not a very good sign. I don't think I can avoid at least a brief stint at UA, given the setting's nature of heroes requiring licenses, but I don't want to make it boring either. That being said, I don't want to remove everything that makes Taylor **_**Taylor**_**. I'll try to put in a controlled amount of Skitter-iness, that hopefully doesn't make her seem completely out of character. I'm also not sure how I handled her interactions in this chapter.**

**Might be updating this again soon, given that exams are now over and I have a short break. Of course, the quality may be a little iffy while I recover from the trauma that OSCEs have dealt unto me.**


	3. Cultural Exchange

**Not very happy with how this turned out. I might leave this up for a day or so to test the waters, but could delete and scrap it entirely. It just seemed way too wordy and kind of boring, especially in the later half. Characterisation also isn't very well done. A bit too much of a prose-dump, especially for Worm readers.**

**Edit 11/7: Thanks for the feedback. I've made some edits to the chapter. Hopefully characterisation feels a bit better now. I'm really sorry if it isn't. I might revise it again in the future.**

**27/7: Another mini ninja-edit. **

* * *

**Chapter 3: Cultural Exchange**

"Why do you have a BULLET HOLE THROUGH YOUR FOREHEAD?!"

I ran my fingers over my forehead, feeling a slight bump where scar tissue had set in. Ah. That explained their initial looks of surprise when I had unmasked.

I turned toward Hizashi. How should I explain Contessa's unorthodox method of brain surgery?

"Would you believe that I didn't know it was there until you mentioned it?"

Strangely, some heads turned toward the detective. Why –

"Truth," he said.

To my credit, I took only a second to react. Then again, I did have to deal with Armsmaster's lie detector back when he had still been a dick of a hero. I looked at Tsukauchi, but couldn't find anything to suggest a tinkertech device. A Thinker power, then?

"Your quirk?"

"Yes," he said. he was still looking shocked, but quickly recovering. Hizashi was faring far worse.

"So!" Nezu clapped his hands together, startling some of the heroes. "While I think we were prepared for some kind of surprise, I don't think we expected _that_."

He looked around, smiling warmly at the other heroes. I appreciated his attempt at calming the others down. "Taylor – if I may call you Taylor?" I nodded. "Right then. Could you tell me why you think so?"

I slumped back into my chair, easing the tension in my spine a little. At least I'd gotten over that hurdle. "Do you want the abbreviated version, the full version, or just the highlights?"

"Just tell us what you think is relevant, for now. We can ask about the specifics later," he said, leaning forward invitingly, arms apart. Was he purposely making himself seem more open, trying to get me to talk? Was this part of a ruse, or just him being blatantly _nice_?

No. I couldn't overthink this. These were heroes, I told myself. Heroes, and not like the ones of the corrupt Protectorate formerly headed by Alexandria. I couldn't allow distrust to fester.

Of course, at the same time, I wouldn't just tell them _everything_. I've barely known them for a few hours. Just the broadest strokes for now, enough to convince them of my origins and to gain a measure of respect.

Every interrogation was a game of give and take. Of course, there was the cardinal rule: no matter what you do, you _always_ gave some information to your interrogator. Hide and obscure some, maybe, but a lack of response was its own response. The closest cards I could keep to my chest, but the ones that could actually cause me damage I wouldn't reveal. Not until I could be damned sure I had the upper hand. It was only practical.

If negotiations broke down, I could always attempt to run. During the time that they'd kept me in the room, I had slowly been feeding bugs through places no one would notice; cracks in the walls, the ventilation systems, hiding over doors. Some simple traps were laid down, nothing too fancy that would let me fight on even footing, but hopefully enough to make a fighting retreat.

Mentally, I gave a small chuckle. At least this time I wasn't pointing a gun at their heads when asking for something. The metaphorical guns were hidden, lying in figurative safeboxes, ready to be grabbed the moment I sensed hostility on the part of the heroes. Lisa would be proud of my progress.

Time to get a move on.

"For starters? Back where I'm from, people with powers are _exceedingly_ rare. You'd be hard-pressed to find even a single parahuman – powered individuals – in a random selection of several thousand to ten thousand people. I gather that quirks are present in eighty percent of the population?" I gestured at the article.

There was a brief round of nods. Clear intrigue and traces of fading shock, but they let me continue talking. "Parahumans have been around for thirty years, give or take. For a long time, no one quite knew where powers came from, but I'll get to that later. The way we get powers also differs markedly. From what I've read, quirks seem to just appear out of the blue, but we gain powers during a Trigger Event."

"Trigger Event?" Nemuri asked, curiosity plain in her voice.

"The worst day of your life," I said solemnly. This was information I could divulge. "Think about the worst thing that can happen to the average person. Then think about the fact that only a minute proportion of the population ever gets powers."

"But you went through something like that?" Hizashi asked, bluntly. I was beginning to get some small sense of him as a person.

"Hizashi-san," Aizawa warned.

"It's alright," I cut in. "Yeah."

I didn't say anything else; no more information than strictly necessarily.

That killed the mood slightly. They must have sensed my reservations. I moved on with my recount. "Anyway, I got powers one day. I wanted to be a hero, but started my cape – colloquial term for parahuman – career as a villain."

That got a reaction out of some of them. Outrage, shock, curiosity. Nezu had a look of thoughtful consideration, seemingly entirely non-judgmental.

"Huh. Izuku didn't tell you?"

All Might shook his head. I'd expected Izuku to have done so. He was too naïve, I decided. He could have almost endangered his friends and teachers. I would need to talk to him at some point.

Of course, he _had_ just made me lose some of my position of power in this interrogation. I needed to appear as the one in control.

"Well, I was. I fought a villain on my first night out. A bunch of other villains came to my rescue, thought that I was a fellow villain, and offered me membership. I thought to infiltrate them, get some information, and help out the heroes."

I paused in reminiscence. "It didn't work out. We became friends, and I saw that the divide between villain and hero wasn't really all that big. Some villains are forced into it by circumstance, but really don't mean harm; some heroes only care about their ego and don't care about those in their way. That's how it is in my society, at least."

That seemed to give some of the gathered heroes pause. I continued, regardless. "Cutting some parts short, we fought some other gangs, then Leviathan struck."

I thought about how to explain just how much fear the Endbringers inspired. As long as I kept my involvement out of it, this wouldn't hurt me at all. Besides, the Endbringers were an essential part to contextualising where I came from. "Izuku mentioned that Kyushu exists in this world?"

Nezu nodded. "Kyushu is an island in southwestern Japan. Did your world have it, too?"

"_Had_. Leviathan sunk it, and everyone on it, on November third, 1999. Nine and a half million deaths, three million evacuees, and Japan crippled from then on."

For a moment, there was silence. Then the thus-far silent Kan spoke a single word. "How?"

"Leviathan's one of the Endbringers. For a long time, there were three, but more came after." I paused, looking at each of them in turn. "Leviathan was the second to appear. When they attack, a _good _day would leave only one in four capes dead. Each Endbringer is a monstrous being of ridiculous power and durability, attacking cities almost randomly. My teammate estimated that damaging an extremity would need thirty trillion atmospheric pressures, and its core could take up to five hundred sixty novemdecillion. That's sixty zeroes."

"_Damn,_" Aizawa swore.

"Damn," I agreed. "They're all ridiculously strong physically, but what makes them really feared is that each has their own other strengths. Behemoth is a dynamokinetic, freely manipulating any form of energy. A kill aura of thirty-two feet, within which he can manifest energy and kill anyone in range. We call him the hero-killer."

I gave them some time to digest that. "The Simurgh is a precog, able to see into the future and avoid attacks or follow a plan of action, a powerful telekinetic, _and_ able to build devices using powers from Tinkers, but what really makes her feared is her scream."

I held off their confusion on the power classifications. "Anyone hearing her scream long enough is driven mad. They won't show any signs of it, but one day they'll snap. The nicest person who'd been in a Simurgh attack zone once over ten years ago can go on a rampage in his neighbourhood. Since that aspect of her power was discovered, every city that the Simurgh attacks becomes a quarantine zone beyond a certain time. No one in or out."

I gave another pause before continuing. "Back to Leviathan. Powerful macro-hydrokinetic, his waves were what destroyed Kyushu Island. Ridiculously fast in the water, fast even on land, able to create water echoes when he moves. He then manipulates the water echoes, killing capes with the sheer force. A terror both up close and from afar."

The heroes' faces were now grim. Some of them held looks of sympathy.

"How often do they attack?" Maijima asked, breaking the silence.

"About every three to four months," I said. Now they were invested in my story. Time to reverse the flow of this interrogation; regain a position of power. I needed to get a feel of their opinion toward me, and if there was any deceit on their part, I had to act quickly before I divulged any unnecessary information that could be used against me.

"I think you believe me when I say that I come from a different world. I'll continue later, but I don't know the differences between our worlds. For now, I want to know a bit more of this world."

"Hey!" Hizashi protested. "We're the ones doing the questioning –"

"Hizashi," Nezu warned. "It's alright. Detective?"

"All truths."

"Okay then, Taylor. We'll talk about your circumstances later. What do you want to know?" Nezu spoke in measured tones. Was he a skilled negotiator? A Social Thinker? Could he see through what I was thinking?

I worked my emotions out through my bugs, hopefully interfering with his power if that was the case. "Okay. First off, where exactly am I?"

"UA High School is a high school is Musutafu City, in Japan."

I hadn't ever heard of the city, but my knowledge of Japan was extremely limited. No one really cared much about Japan in the wake of Kyushu. "You've heard some things about my world. Is yours different?"

I heard Hizashi snort, and my bugs felt the shift as Aizawa turned to look disapprovingly at him. Nezu answered my question. "Very. We have no 'Endbringers', crime is a lot more stable and heroes a lot more in control. I can assure you that only the most powerful of villainous groups can ever get a foothold of territory. Most just have hideouts to themselves. A lot of this is due to our resident Symbol of Peace, All Might himself."

He gestured at the frail-looking Changer-Brute-Mover. I was beginning to think trying to accurately classify his power was more trouble that it was worth.

Symbol of Peace? That was a grandiose and self-explanatory title. Even the Triumvirate, for all their ungodly powers, were only ever known as that. Sure, Legend had generally always been the most well-liked of the trio after Hero's death, but he'd never been referred to as anything like that.

"Crime has dropped since All Might's rise to the spot of Number One Hero years ago. Villains are afraid to strike for fear of his intervention, and the public's faith in heroes is largely placed on him," Nezu explained further.

It seemed that All Might had all the right elements of 'image', then. Glenn Chambers really should meet him. But where heroes had image, villains had reputation.

"And the villains?"

"Few choose to enter a life of villainy. Those that do usually form groups. There hasn't been a rise of any villain that couldn't be stopped. Occasionally, powerful villains do appear, but All Might and many of the other heroes are up to the task of bringing them to justice."

A very stable power dynamic, then; nothing at all like the stalemate that had captured Brockton Bay up until my arrival and disruption of the power struggle.

"Young Taylor…" All Might spoke directly to me. "You already know what I really look like. I am trusting you not to divulge this information to anyone. No one can know this secret, or it would make the public lose hope in their Symbol of Peace. Villains would rise and attack, and society will suffer. _Please."_

His phrasing sounded somewhat egotistical, but his tone couldn't be any less. This, along with my previous interactions, painted him in a favourable light. I wasn't going to out his identity, regardless. "I won't. Outing a cape's identity isn't something that is done in my world, anyway."

"Thank you," he nodded.

"Do you have any other questions, Taylor?" Nezu asked.

I thought over the brief summary of cape dynamics. A stable society with heroes holding the reins was virtually unheard of. It could explain why heroes here seemed so trusting.

Of course, there was also the fact that they didn't need to go through Trigger Events. That sort of memory wasn't one that anyone could walk away from.

From what I understood, society here wasn't based off a game of cops and robbers. Heroes did their job and were adored by the public, while villains struck from the shadows. Almost like a comic-book world, the stuff of the imagination of whimsical minds of Earth Bet wanting to escape the undeniable necessity of villains in my world.

The whole Symbol of Peace shtick sounded a little familiar. Why…

Ah. The Sentai Elite, Japan's finest heroes before Leviathan's attack. They had held similar titles, brandished bizarre costumes and poses during their appearances, and the public gushed over them, adults and children both.

This world didn't seem that bad. Could I stand to trust them a bit more?

"Do you have the Sentai Elite too?" I tried an attempt at a joke.

"Sentai Elite?" Nezu tilted his head, looking at me curiously. "I'm familiar with the Sentai Rangers, of course, that popular kids series. Did your world have that too?"

I shook my head. "No, they were some Japanese capes. Full colourful costumes and more. Your description of all Might just reminded me of him. They're all gone now," I added, and I saw the question die on his lips. "Most during Leviathan, and the rest scattered across other countries."

This wasn't my world. These weren't my heroes. Perhaps I could stand to show just a little bit of trust. Not too much, but enough of the broadest strokes to know my circumstances. Nothing that could hurt me.

"So Leviathan, then," I continued where I left off. "Anyway. He attacked, Brockton Bay was left in ruins, and gangs fought for control over different parts."

I thought back to that period. Then, force had been the only means of keeping the people in my territory safe. "I protected people in my territory, provided them with food and supplies. It was fine, for a short while, then the Slaughterhouse Nine came."

My face darkened. "They're villains. Think your average supervillain, only a million times worse. Death was a mercy to those who came across them. I won't go into the details, but when Shatterbird joined they heralded their arrival by shattering an already crippled city. City-wide macrosilicokinesis; breaking _anything_ with silicon in it. The rest of them – think torture, experimentation, servitude and senseless murder."

Someone swore. I pressed on. "We drove them off. Our employer betrayed me. His power let him split reality, keep one and destroy the other. He was a monster that kidnapped a child with precognition powers, kept her drugged and sedative for her power."

I left out the part where I killed him. I wasn't sure if the heroes would be so trusting if I told that particular revelation.

"Later on, I had my identity outed, some circumstances changed, and the precog's powers told her that there was a higher chance of stopping the end of the world – I'll talk about that soon – if I joined the Parahuman Response Team as a hero. I did."

"The Nine had promised to return in two years after they'd left Brockton Bay. Many other precog powers had also predicted the end of the world coming in a similar time frame, with the loss of over ninety-nine percent of the population. We thought the two could be connected, and so we prepared for battle against the Nine."

I thought about my time in the Chicago Wards. The single-minded drive I had toward my goals, uncaring for my teammates. "Some things happened that I'll gloss over. Behemoth attacked, we killed him, then more different Endbringers started entering their attack cycle. For two years, I'd trained and recruited more people to prepare for the coming attack by the Nine."

"Young Taylor…" the emaciated All Might was saying solemnly. I shook my head. I didn't know if that was pity, sympathy, judgment or something else. He hadn't known about the things I'd omitted. Carving Lung's eyes out, going after the mayor and accidentally attacking Triumph in his civilian identity, killing Coil, packing Valefor's eyes with maggots, killing Alexandria, the gamble and choices I made with Phir Se and more.

"They attacked. Clones of former and current members of the Nine, biologically twisted clones of other heroes and villains and more. Eventually, we took them down. Jack Slash, the leader, was caught in a time bubble by the powers of another member of the Nine, doomed to loop through seconds to minutes of time for the rest of eternity."

"So you avoided the end of the world?" Aizawa asked curiously.

I shook my head. "No. He was only the catalyst. Scion, long thought to be the original parahuman, had been caught in a time loop as well, and Jack Slash began to talk to him. Then Scion broke free, and the first thing he did was destroy the United Kingdom."

There was a sharp intake of breath. "Long story short: Scion _was_ the source of all powers, and had every power at his disposal. He killed billions, not just in my world, but many other parallel worlds linked to ours. We tried to cooperate to take him down, but nothing worked. We were fractured, splintered, angry at each other, and about to be destroyed."

I looked down. There were more parts at the end I wasn't willing to tell them, not yet. I wasn't proud of what I had done as Khepri. I still didn't have an answer to Contessa's question of whether it was worth it, in the end. Would I have become Khepri, saved what was left of the world with the sacrifices I made the way I had, knowing it would have completely destroyed my humanity?

"The rest… I can't tell you what happened. I'm sorry. But we managed to take him down, some things happened, and I was brought here. Part of that involved being shot, hence the bullet holes. There's a lot of things missing in there, but those are the salient points."

There were, of course, some huge things missing. Beyond the fact that I'd omitted just about everything I'd done on a daily basis, I had left out an interdimensional global conspiracy fielded by the top heroes, everything that happened as Khepri, Echidna, the fact that Scion was an alien parasite and more. I'd given them just enough to trust me and to contextualise my world, while leaving out my personal involvement in all the major events.

Nezu turned to Tsukauchi beside him.

"All truths," he said. "Except the last few sentences. But I think we understand why."

I don't think they really did, but I wasn't going to mention that. Wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth, after all.

A silence fell across the room. I studied their reactions. Some were conflicted, probably about some of my less-than-heroic actions. Some were sympathetic, some looked like they couldn't comprehend the scope of what I'd said. Of course, there was also some distrust. No doubt the more experienced and paranoid of the bunch could see just how I'd told them what they wanted to know while omitting everything that they _should_ know. Their bullshit senses had to be tingling.

"You've not told us everything," Aizawa challenged. "What happened to your enemies, for example." There was some clear suspicion in his eyes, although I liked to think that it came at odds with that fact that I had saved him.

"Would you do any different? Bear in mind that right now, I know you for all of a few hours."

Aizawa's eyes narrowed, then shook his head. "No, I suppose not. I don't know what the rest are thinking, but I'll be keeping an eye on you."

I didn't expect anything different. _Finally_, a hero that had some sense. "Okay. I would be doing the same, in your shoes."

"How old are you, Taylor?" Nezu asked suddenly.

"Eighteen."

"You dealt with all of that from when you were _fifteen_?" Chiyo practically exploded.

"Didn't really have much of a choice."

"You mentioned Tinkers and Thinkers, and earlier you talked about Changers. What did you mean?" Kan pointed out.

PRT classifications on their own were harmless knowledge. I began reciting the rhyme that most people from my world knew. "Mover, Shaker, Brute and Breaker. Master, Tinker, Blaster and Thinker. Striker, Changer, Trump and Stranger. It's a system we use to classify powers."

I moved to elaborate. "Movers have enhanced mobility, Shakers alter an area, Brutes have enhanced physical attributes, Breakers shift into different states. Masters control, Tinkers create devices beyond normal technology, Blasters have ranged offensive powers, Thinkers have powers related to information. Strikers have close range or touch-based powers, Changers alter their form or appearance, Trumps manipulate powers, and Strangers relate to stealth and infiltration. Powers could have a primary rating and a sub-rating from uses of the power."

"Hmm," Nezu mused. "You would be… a Master, then?"

"Yeah. Master, with a Thinker subrating. Although now that my power has been altered since arriving here, I would probably also classify as a Shaker."

"Intruiging," Nemuri mulled over the system. "You classify quirks by their effects, while we classify them more by how they work. Emitter, Transformation, Mutant and Accumulation."

"There's threat-ratings as well, to go along with them. I could tell you about them another time." Powers and strategising ways to counteract them had been one of my guilty pleasures, since the days of playing Heroes and Villains with Emma. It had been instrumental in the plans we deployed against the Nine.

"Young Taylor, I know you used to be a villain before. Do you regret the things you did?"

"Do I regret being a villain, you mean?" I considered All Might's question. "You know, you're the third person to ask me that. I'll tell you what I told them. A month ago, I would have told you no, but somewhere along the way after Scion's rampage, the answer started to change. Knowing where it all leads to now? I regret the way I did some things. I regret how I'd treated my friends. I've done many things as a villain I was proud of, some things were done out of necessity, but still many more that I regret. I don't regret my part in saving the world, only how I went about it."

Again, there was a pause after my declaration. All Might seemed contented with my answer, because now he seemed to look at me differently.

"What do you plan to do now?" Nezu questioned. He still had that thoughtful look in his eyes. My sense of him being a Social Thinker grew.

"Now? I'm not sure. I think I was given a second chance to do things right, to become a hero the right way without doing things the way I had before. But I don't have enough information about this world, don't know where to begin. The article mentioned something about Hero Licences and restrictions on public quirk usage? Is that accurate?"

"You will need a Hero Licence to engage in hero work and to use your quirk in public," Tsukauchi told me. "At the bare minimum, you need a Provisional Hero Licence for it to be legal use. Otherwise it is considered an illegal act, and even if used heroically it will be treated as vigilantism."

"How can I get this licence? The article didn't make any mention of the process."

"Tsukauchi?" Nezu questioned instead.

"Truth."

Nezu exchanged a look with his fellow educators. There were less-than-subtle exchange of nods, and I didn't even need the vibration sensed by bugs planted on them to inform me of such.

Oh, no. I was getting the feeling that he was building up to something.

"Taylor, would you like to attend the Hero Course of UA High School?" Nezu spoke formally.

Sometimes, I hated it when my guesses were right. The sudden reversal of this interrogation-turned-recruitment-attempt briefly caught me off-guard. I recovered my composure as quickly as I could.

"You do know that I'm eighteen, right?" I asked. "Besides, I have plenty of experience in heroics. I'm not quite sure if there's much more to learn in a school."

I wasn't too keen in dealing with high school again. My first go around had been a disaster. While I hadn't thought about bullying at the hands of Emma, Sophia and Madison in a long time, it didn't mean that I was willing to simply accept that again. Besides, it sounded like quite a massive waste of time.

"We take in older students as well, you know. Not everyone passes the entrance exam on their first try," Nezu said.

"That's not my point." Sometimes, I hated bureaucracy and red-tape. Why couldn't they just let me get the licence without all of this mess? Hell, I was beginning to give vigilantism some serious consideration.

"You don't have many friends, do you, Taylor-san?" Chiyo cut straight to the heart of the matter.

She smiled, taking my silence as affirmation. "I think being among peers of your age – well, slightly younger – could do you some good. Your world sounds like a terrible place to be in, no offense, but we don't have things like that here. You can afford to make some friends, take some down-time to relax."

I turned to see what the others thought. Aizawa struck me as someone with common sense.

"You're actually considering this?"

He was still somewhat distrustful, but my temporary lapse of control over the interrogation alongside Tsukauchi's confirmation of my words had changed that. His expression had shifted, and I sensed how some of the tension left his body through my bugs. Had he seen weakness, thought that I wasn't a threat? "I don't know, my students could stand to learn a bit from you. Not just anyone could have taken down that villain in the USJ."

"Mine as well," Kan added in. Like Aizawa, he'd seemed a bit mistrustful of me at first, but something had changed in the last few minutes.

"Isn't there any other way to get a licence?" I asked Tsukauchi. Surely there was a better alternative than wasting time dealing with teenagers in a school?

"I'm afraid not, Taylor-san. The only way to get a provisional licence is through a hero school."

Damn. I was getting the sense that they wouldn't budge on the matter.

"It's not going to be productive for me to be stuck in a classroom of teenagers while they learn about stuff I've done a million times," I tried to argue.

"How about a compromise?" Nezu cut in, eyes glinting. He saw my faltering resolve and assessment of the situation, and took advantage. Damn Thinkers. "You attend classes for some subjects that you have no experience in. Japanese, maybe Hero Art History and more. For the others, you can act as a teaching assistant, come up with lesson plans and exercises, or just assist the main teacher in class."

I mused over that plan. "You know that my teaching experience consists of 'knock my teammate down in every way possible', right?"

"All the better, they could stand to learn some humility," Nezu replied immediately, smile widening. Now _there_ was the Lisa grin; I had no doubt left that he was a Thinker.

"Fine," I said. "Suppose I do this. What do you want to tell them about me? They aren't idiots; they already know I pretty much had no clue about this world when I told them I didn't know about All Might. Won't take them long to put two and two together."

Hizashi snorted, elbowing the man in question. "Seriously? You did that? HAH!"

Nezu stepped in. "You can tell them the truth, if you want. I think future heroes-to-be can be trusted with the information." He turned to look at Aizawa and Kan, raising an eyebrow.

"You can trust my students," Kan said.

"Mine as well," Aizawa affirmed.

I considered the deal offered to me a bit more. It wasn't all that bad, all things considered. It wasn't ideal, having to go through this process to become a hero, but it could also provide me a chance to gather information should I have second thoughts about heroism in this world. Surely teenagers in a high school meant for heroes couldn't be as bad as Winslow had been, right? They were heroes, after all.

Shadow Stalker had been a hero too, of course, but given the nature of parahuman trigger events thinking the best about any heroic cape was ignorance. Quirks didn't seem to have such an impact.

There was, of course, a whole other matter to deal with in this deal. "Some of my methods may not be entirely… sanitised, for high school students. When I fight, I use every method available. Bugs on eyes, bites and stings, every single dirty trick you can think of. Is that going to be a problem?"

Aizawa was the first to respond. "As long as you're controlled about it? Not really. You might not be well-liked by the public, but those tactics are almost standard for underground heroes. My students could stand to learn that heroism isn't all about flashiness."

Kan nodded in agreement. All Might frowned. "While I personally won't use such methods, Aizawa-san has a point. As long as you know your limits and don't go overboard, I think you will be a fine hero, Young Taylor."

Why were heroes in this world so _nice_? Where were the pre-Defiant Armsmasters?

I was almost going to start feeling bad about obscuring the entire truth.

"If you're willing to tell the students about some of your origins, comparing the differences between quirks of our world and capes of yours could be an interesting exercise, I think, Taylor-san," Nemuri said. "I'd love to have you in for some lessons in Modern Hero Art History."

Huh. That actually sounded fairly interesting. "Do you have any material I could refer to regarding quirks and society here in general? I need more information."

She hesitated. "We have books, but… they're mostly in Japanese. Are you fine with reading?"

I smiled. It wasn't one of the PR-friendly-Glenn-Chambers-approved smiles; no, this was a _Skitter_ smile.

"Give me a braille Japanese-English dictionary, or any dictionary with raised printing, and there'll be no problem at all."

"Braille?" Nezu questioned. Unspoken was the question '_and what will you do with it?'_

"I'll tear up the pages, lay them out, send my bugs over the surface and translate as I read. I've done it before, in the lead-up to the Nine's return. Part of my power lets me multitask extremely well."

Nezu blinked. "That's… unorthodox." Then he grinned widely. "I like it."

Maijima, who had largely remained quiet throughout the meeting, caught my attention with a cough. "I've been meaning to ask, Hebert-san, but what is that device on your back?"

I unstrapped my flight pack. There wasn't a whole lot of charge left in it after Scion, even though I'd only used it a minimal amount against the Brute. "It's a flight pack. Four antigravity panels, propulsion systems. Redundant controls with bugs to press switches in the pack or controlled with my gloves. I probably can't use the glove now, though. Incidentally, any chance anyone would be able to study and recharge it?"

"Antigravity?" he coughed out. "I don't think we have that technology yet, but we can try, if you'll let us study it. Otherwise, we may be able to replicate a similar design for movement in the air, based entirely on propulsion."

"Sure," I said. It was at least better than carrying around a flight pack that was soon running out of charge. I handed it over to him.

I thought back to how this had all started. "What _are_ your hero names, anyway?"

A round of introductions soon followed, along with an explanation of their powers. I mentally gave each of them a power classification. Of course, Nezu _had_ turned out not just to be a Social Thinker, but literally a Thinker whose power was to _Think_.

"And what is your power, Young Taylor?" All Might asked curiously. "Izuku mentioned you using bugs and concrete against the Noumu?"

I nodded. "I control bugs. Some of my powers have changed on coming to this world, due to some changes in circumstances. That Shaker ability was part of one of my teammate's. I've got some more new changes, I think, that I haven't made use of yet."

"When you say control…" Damn, Nezu really had a keen eye. With Tsukauchi here, I couldn't really downplay the full extent of my abilities. Two Social Thinkers working together made a fearsome force.

"I can control them individually, I know the position of any one of them in range of my power at any time."

Hizashi whistled. "Individually? DAMN."

"It's not that impressive," I said dismissively. It seemed that they took my words at face value. I hadn't disclosed what I _really_ meant by control. Needless to say, I was glad to be able to keep my ability of hearing and speaking through my bugs a secret, alongside just how fine of a positional and vibrational sense they had.

"You took on that Noumu earlier, though. I'd say that's _plenty_ impressive," Aizawa countered.

"Not entirely, I think," I considered his point. "I caught him by surprise with my bugs. He reacted instinctively, cutting off his speed before he could accelerate further. Almost everyone does that the first time I send bugs crawling over them. Then I restrained his movements with bugs _and_ Theo's power. If he had gone for me a second time, and stopped caring about the bugs crawling on his face, he could probably have gone straight for the kill with his speed. I was honestly considering a retreat after Shigaraki bailed him out."

"Right!" Tsukauchi declared, catching everyone's attention. "Now that we know of how Taylor-san arrived at USJ, can we take your statement of what happened?"

"Okay." I shrugged. "There really isn't much to it. I arrived through the portal, Shigaraki asked who I was, asked if I was a hero and then ordered that Brute/Mover to attack. I sent my bugs in, fought him as I told you, and got him restrained. At some point I revealed that I used to be a villain, and had mistaken All Might arriving for one their reinforcements."

"Sorry about that," I told the man in question, before turning to Tsukauchi. "They began to retreat, Shigaraki used a Striker power that disintegrated my concrete limbs, the Brute got out, and then Kurogiri got the villains out with his portals. That's when All Might arrived."

"Okay," the detective said, writing the last of his case notes. "Thank you very much for your cooperation, Taylor-san. If you'll excuse me, I need to interview some of the other students now."

I nodded, and he rose. All Might gave me an apologetic smile, taking his leave as well. "I'll need to join Tsukauchi-san and see how my students are doing."

As they trailed off, I looked quizzically at Nezu. "So how will this arrangement work?"

"For starters, we'll need to assign you a class."

"Do I really need one? I mean, it doesn't make much sense if I'm going to be assisting in more classes than I attend as a student."

"It's more for administrative purposes," he waved dismissively. "You need to be registered as part of a Hero Class to obtain a Provisional Licence. Graduation from Hero School gives you a full licence."

"Fine, fine." I sighed. "Well, which class am I going to be in?"

"Classes 1-A and 1-B are part of the hero course. You'll need to –"

"There are other courses?" I interrupted, curiosity rising.

"Of course! Here in UA, we have the Hero, General Education, Support and Management courses. You don't expect all of our students to become heroes, do you?"

Huh. That was interesting. The article had made mention of quirks impacting society in various aspects, but courses dedicated to what would be Rogues in my world wasn't something I had expected.

"Anyway, classes 1-A and 1-B?" I diverted the conversation back to where I'd interrupted. "What's the difference?"

"Nothing much, really. They've got a rivalry between the two, but it's mostly friendly. Class 1-A has the better reputation, though, mostly because most graduates that become top heroes seem to be from the A classes."

I decided. "I'm going with 1-B."

"Hate attention?" Nezu asked unnecessarily. "Vlad King will be your homeroom teacher, then."

Kan nodded. "I'm looking forward to having you in my class, Hebert-san."

I waved off the formality. "It doesn't really matter. As Nezu said, it's just bureaucracy. I'll be taking most of the hero-related subjects as an assistant, anyway."

"I look forward to seeing how you teach, Taylor-san. Do you think you could prepare for a class by Monday?" Nemuri asked, then remembered my current predicament. "It's Thursday today, by the way."

That sounded doable. "Sure."

"Right then!" Nezu said, clapping his hands. "We'll work out a schedule for you that will let you act as a teaching assistant without clashing with the subjects you'll take with 1-B. In the meantime, we'll sort out some accommodations and other miscellaneous amenities. Clothes, a phone, some allowance and such."

"Okay," I nodded. "Who should I speak to?"

"Give me a few hours. My assistant will get in touch with you, later. For now, you can remain here, or Kan can take you to the library to find books or your dictionary."

"To the library, then."

He nodded, then rose to stand. Seeing that as the cue for the meeting being over, the rest of the assembled teachers similarly made to leave.

-o-o-o-

The weekend came and went quickly. Most of my time had been spent piecing together what I could about this Earth I had ended up in. The remainder had been spent practicing some of my new powers, although other than Theo's power and some of the passive aspects of Tecton's power, I was only really able to utilise Rachel's power effectively.

Her empowerment was a strange one, particularly in the way that Administrator had jerry-rigged a mimicry of her power. When I 'pushed' the power into my bugs through the connection, my fine control immediately decreased, as did my range, while I had to control the empowered bugs entirely through my power. It was weaker than Rachel's power had been; while hers could empower her dogs to the size and force of trucks, my hard limit seemed to be vaguely human-sized ones.

It was similarly to how it had been when I'd piloted Atlas, the giant beetle that Panacea had altered with her power during the Nine's attack on Brockton Bay, except that my empowered bugs were smaller in size. I could choose to 'push' more of my power into a single bug or distribute it among multiple bugs with a smaller empowerment effect, but regardless of how I did it I had to completely focus on directing them.

It was far weaker than Rachel's power had been. I would be lying if I said I didn't feel a little bit cheated by that, but some versatility for my power was always welcome. I doubted that I would be using this aspect of my new powers very often, though, given my preference for large scale and far range swarm tactics. I'd almost always take a million bugs over ten human-sized ones any day.

I had tested flying on an empowered beetle like I had on Atlas, but unless the situation was dire my flight pack was the better option. I'd essentially become blind, limited to a range of half a block and extremely poor control of all bugs other than the ones I had empowered, and they'd felt as though seeing them through a lens underwater while drunk. Their senses and movements had felt completely off, something that had never happened since my trigger event.

With the weekend gone, I soon found myself waiting together with Nemuri in the staff office. Apparently, the plan was to introduce me to both classes 1-A and 1-B at the same time in a lecture theatre, followed quickly by Nemuri's planned lesson comparing the cape dynamics of our world. Privately, I questioned whether that might be a bit too much for the students to take in at one go.

"Nervous?" she asked, smiling kindly. Hizashi had privately told me that she was a completely different person in her hero and classroom persona, but was otherwise kind and gentle in private.

"Maybe a little," I said. I was dressed in my Skitter costume, sans mask.

I had set aside a couple thousand spiders in my room to stitch together a new costume based on Weaver's design, my old one having been destroyed during Scion's attack. It wouldn't be as strong as ones made of silk of Darwin's Bark spider, although Nezu had assured me that they would look into procuring some for me. It helped that I had offered to make more costumes with the silk as well. It was hard for heroes to say no to an outfit tougher than steel but many times lighter.

"Aizawa-san and Kan-san should be briefing their students in their classrooms now. They'll bring them over once they settle down."

I mentally rehearsed what I wanted to say. I didn't really know how to introduce myself; I never had to do so back in Earth Bet. My meteoric rise as Skitter had pretty much given me a reputation that transferred over during my outing as a cape and later when I'd become Weaver. Almost everyone knew me as the 'creepy bug girl', the 'cape from the Behemoth video', the 'Arcadia high school girl' or some variant thereof where I had come across as intimidating and commanding.

I went over the names and faces of the students I was going to be with for the foreseeable future. Kan and Aizawa had been nice enough to hand me a dossier with some general information of my coursemates and their quirks.

"Right. They're ready now," Nemuri said, glancing up from her phone.

Wordlessly, I followed her to the lecture theatre.

Chatter died down the moment we entered the room, then slowly built up again. I recognised some of the faces from USJ, and the rest from reading over the weekend. Nemuri smiled at me encouragingly, as I walked up to the front, pausing behind the desk briefly before turning toward my peers.

Aizawa was still covered in bandages, seated at the front of one half of the group of students. Likewise, Kan did the same with my future classmates. There was a visible divide separating the two classes, some looks of animosity being exchanged.

I looked toward the crowd of students. I was never good at this sort of public speaking. Izuku was waving enthusiastically at me, and by his side I saw the class representative I recognised as Tenya Iida desperately urging him to curb his enthusiasm. I allowed myself a slight smile.

Then, I raised my stump of an arm, and the room fell into a hushed silence. I was really beginning to like this tactic of crowd control.

Right then. Time to begin. I had tens to hundreds of thousands of bugs covering pages of a phonetic English-Japanese dictionary, spread across the surface of several rooms.

"Hello," I began. "I think Aizawa-sensei and Kan-sensei have already told you some things about me. My name is Taylor Hebert, and I'll be joining class 1-B for the foreseeable future."

I spied a look of disappointment on Izuku's face, mirrored on some of his classmates. Some of my future classmates perked up at that, but most were still trying to feel me out. Smart of them.

"As they've probably already told you, I'm from another world." I braced for a reaction, but it seemed that they have had sufficient time to absorb whatever shock that bombshell must have had when they'd been briefed in their classrooms. Even with that, I could hear a sharp intake of breath from a student somewhere in the room.

"I've got a bit of experience as a hero where I come from. As Izuku might have told you – and I hope he has, by now – I used to be a villain for a couple of months." The sharp turn of heads toward the quickly reddening boy told me that no, that was not the case. I sighed.

"You're going to need to be less trusting, but that's a lesson for another time," I continued. "I ended up caught in the USJ incident, met with the teachers, and they're offering me a place here to get licenced as a hero. In the meantime, I'll be joining class 1-B in some classes that I've never taken before, and acting as a teaching assistant in other lessons."

I paused for a moment, giving them a chance to take that chunk of information. "I might tell you about some things about me and my world in time. For now, I and the teachers respect you enough to trust you to keep this a secret."

Another pause. "Besides asking about any details of my world, does anyone have any questions?"

Several hands shot up. I picked one of them, although I was already anticipating his question, given what I knew of his personality from the file I'd been given.

"Bakugou?"

"Yeah," he stood up, glaring challengingly at me. "What the hell makes you think you're good enough to be teaching us how to be heroes, _villain_?"

Several hands fell. Ah. Seems like that was a common question.

Izuku, bless him, was rising to my defence. "K-Kacchan! Weaver-san's a great hero, you saw how she fought at the –"

"Shut up, shitty Deku!" he shouted. Izuku flinched. "I'm asking the bug girl. You're what, only a few years older than us? You think you're better than me?"

"Good question. By the way, Izuku, just call me Taylor," I said. "I think Nemuri-sensei wants to cover some stuff about the hero-villain divide and contrast our worlds, so I'll leave the bit about me being a villain till then. As for the rest…"

I stared at him, meeting his gaze levelly. A look I'd mastered as Skitter, leaving no room to be questioned, my emotions worked out through agitation of my bugs in another room. Sierra had said that it was what made me so simultaneously feared and respected during my time as a warlord.

True enough, he broke eye contact first.

"I've probably been in more battles than any of you combined. Perhaps even more than some of your senseis. I'm almost certain I've been in more life-or-death situations, at the very least."

I'd learned that the best way of convincing people to back down in situations like this was to base everything on facts. No exaggeration, nothing that could be challenged.

"I won't talk about all my encounters, just some of them. I went up against a cape that stood toe-to-toe with an Endbringer – more on that later. I've fought against both the Slaughterhouse Nine and Endbringer battles. Their names aren't just for show. At the end, I was part of a group that attacked someone with access to just about every power imaginable and nigh invulnerable. He began by destroying Great Britain, then billions more in several parallel worlds. By the end, well over ten billion people died."

Some of his resolve was fading, and I could see uncertainty setting in. Time to go in for the kill. "I know Endbringers and the Nine don't mean anything to you, yet. Just know that in the last two years, I've had my fair share of experience. I've received many injuries - my spine broken, eyes blinded, almost burned to a crisp, cut in half, and my arm destroyed. I've been caught in situations where I didn't have access to bugs and come out the victor."

I spotted some students cowering away slightly. I took a deep breath in, calming myself. This wasn't meant to be an attempt at intimidation. I just needed their respect.

"So. Would you please kindly accept, at least for now, that I do have some experience under my belt?"

Bakugou gave a slow nod. Not entirely convinced without the full context, but some of that blatant disrespect was gone.

"Kacchan! Taylor-san fought against that villain in the USJ, she's really powerful!"

Bakugou looked away. "Tsk. Fine, we'll see just how strong you really are."

I closed my eyes. "Okay. Any other questions?"

I must have killed the mood a bit, because only one more hand was left in the air.

"Asui?"

"Call me Tsuyu, Taylor-chan," she croaked. Huh, that was different. "I always say what's on my mind. I saw how you protected sensei at USJ, and I think you're a hero. But from what you said, your world and ours are very different, _ribbit_. You can't use the same methods here, and you're making us feel scared when you talk like that."

She stared at me, sitting in a frog-like posture. She had guts, but she was unexperienced, an amateur calling me out. I probably wouldn't normally have cared much for what she pointed out, but it was eerily similar to what Lisa had done just after I'd turned into Khepri.

"Okay. Thank you, Tsuyu." I meant it. She really didn't know what she was talking about, didn't know just exactly what I had seen on Earth Bet. Regardless, I appreciated the fact that someone could keep me in check, even if they were probably too inexperienced to know just how the real world of heroes and villains worked.

"Look. I'm trying to change the way I do things here, build relationships the way I hadn't last time. I've been so focused on a goal of mine for a long time, I've done some things that I regret and haven't done things that I should. If you think I'm falling back to how I was as Skitter – my villain name – please call me out on that. I can't promise I'll always act on criticism, but I'll definitely keep it in mind."

That seemed to mollify her and several others. Another hand was raised, and I recognised her as my class representative.

"Kendou?"

She stood up, ponytail swishing slightly. "As class representative of class 1-B, I want to welcome you to our class, Hebert-san. I am glad that you're making an effort to connect with us. Please know that if you ever need someone to talk to, I and every one of our classmates will be happy to chat with you."

She sat down. I nodded, trying to smile. It was probably one of those awkward ones. "Thank you. I'll be sure to do so."

I made a cursory sweep of the room. "No more questions?"

I waited several seconds, then nodded at Nemuri. She stepped to my side.

"Right, students! As you all know, Hero Art History is more than just knowing the names and good deeds of top heroes of all time! While great heroes may be responsible for _disciplining_ villains and _keeping them in check_, the nature of heroes and villains is by itself a field of study!"

She'd made several suggestive actions during her opening salvo, and I now saw exactly what Hizashi had meant. Nemuri was borderline batshit crazy in her Midnight hero persona.

"And that's why we have Hebert-san with us today! As the villain Skitter and the hero Weaver, she has been both a _bad girl_ and _pure woman_. She will tell us about the differences between our worlds, and in future lessons we can discuss why this may be the case. Please be _good boys and girls_ and listen to Hebert-san!"

Did she really have to put in that many innuendos? I glared lightly at her, and she gave me a wink. She was doing it on purpose, damn it.

"Right, then. I'll start by going over what I plan to talk about. I'll begin with an overview of the differences in powers and quirks of our world, some key global events, and how the hero and villain structures can differ across countries. If there's time, I'll talk about some of my own experiences."

It turned out that some things were ubiquitous in all worlds, among them the use of lecture slides. As I talked, I ran through the presentation I had prepared.

"First of all, what you know as quirks are exceedingly rare in my world. Less than one in ten thousand to hundred thousand of people have powers, and these people are called 'capes'. I won't go into much detail today, but the nature of how we get powers means that many capes are naturally driven toward conflict or socially isolated."

I shifted over to another slide. "The next key difference are the Endbringers. I'll go over them more when I assist in Heroics and Quirks classes, but as their name suggests, they're bad news. They're monstrous creatures, virtually undamageable, each with powerful abilities. They attack every four months or so, and on a good day, only one in four out of hundreds of defending capes die. For reference, one of them flooded and destroyed Kyushu in 1999."

"_Shit," _Kirishima exhaled. More students muttered under their breath.

I couldn't blame them for swearing here. Their teacher had done the same.

"We can't really kill them, only hold out long enough to drive them off. In over twenty years, we've only ever killed one. Because we need capes to defend against Endbringers, we have the Endbringer Truce and Unwritten Rules in play."

I switched slides, comparing the two sets of rules. I gave them some reading time. "In essence, villains are needed to be present at Endbringer attacks. My friend called it a game of cops and robbers, where heroes deliberately let villains get free after taken in, unless they've committed something truly heinous. In that case, they go straight to the Birdcage – an inescapable prison – or receive a Kill Order."

With that background information, I moved on to the bulk of my presentation. "Now I'll talk about how capes in different societies function. America predominantly has a centralised hero system under the Protectorate, with smaller numbers of independents scattered around. Villains are mostly organised into gangs, although some exceptionally powerful capes may go solo. In that regard, it's similar to the system here, with an overarching set of rules for heroes and smaller organised clusters of villains, except there is less centralised control over heroes here."

I let them consider what I said, before moving on to my next target demographic. "India has a very different way of organising heroes and villains. There are heroes and villains, but also the _Garama _and _Thanda_. Garama are 'hot' capes, that attract media attention and the eye of the public, while Thanda are 'cold' capes, unofficial and largely hidden, and they don't play by any particular set of rules. They share some similarities with underground heroes and villains here, although even underground heroes here are more regulated."

I had one last example to discuss. "The Chinese Union-Imperial has a centralised militaristic cape organisation known as the Yangban. As such, they don't really have heroes or villains, and all capes are centrally controlled, willingly or otherwise. They are known to have kidnapped or brainwashed capes from elsewhere to add to their numbers."

It had fascinated me, back in my early teenage years, as to how societies had such different ways of organising capes. There were so many parallels in the way heroes and villains worked here, but also many more ways that they were different.

I gave a signal to Nemuri, letting her field discussion over what I'd shared. "Alright, students! Why do you think I've asked Taylor-san to share about the heroes and villains of her world? Other than for me to learn about how to _control_ and _brainwash_ like the Yangban do?"

The innuendo was really starting to get excessive.

It came as no surprise to me that Izuku was the first hand up. "Midnight-sensei! While the vast majority of our population have quirks, only a small proportion of Taylor-san's have powers. It sounds like almost all of them become heroes or villains, unlike our society where very few of the quirked actually do so. I think it is fascinating to compare how people treat heroes, villains and quirkless in Taylor-san's world, especially since we have so much fewer quirkless! I think –"

At that point, the bell rang. They must have spent longer than I'd thought during the short homeroom period reacting to their teachers informing them of my origins. Either that, or I'd talked for way too long during my introduction. I couldn't decide whether to be thankful of being spared from Izuku's speech that rapidly gained speed, or disappointed that I wouldn't get to hear his views just yet.

"Well, that's all for today, class! Next time, we'll be split back into individual classes. We'll discuss about what we've learnt from Taylor-san today, how they can be applied to our society, and see if any of her examples can predict the future of our society. This won't be on the exams, but the skills and arguments you pick up will be critical for an understanding of Hero Art History!"

With that, the two classes separated again. Izuku gave me a friendly wave while Tsuyu dispensed a nod as I made my way past them toward my classmates.

"Your world is so interesting, Taylor-san!" The one I knew to be Tokage Setsuna exclaimed immediately as I joined them. "Tell us more about your world!"

"Later, Tokage-san," Kan interrupted. "You've got Heroics now. I'm taking over for All Might today, with Hebert-san assisting. Good lesson, by the way."

"Thanks," I nodded, then turned to Tokage, who was dragging Kendou by her side. "Mind if I just call you by your names? I'm not used to the Japanese system."

"SURE!" Tokage – no, Setsuna – replied immediately. Itsuka looked embarrassed, but didn't otherwise comment. "We're going to be great friends, Taylor-chan!"

"Is she always like that?" I asked Itsuka. She sighed, nodding. "Ah."

"Enough chatter, everyone. You'll have time to talk later." Kan led the class out of the lecture theatre. "We'll start with a quick assessment of Hebert-san's quirk, similar to the entrance exam, just so everyone knows what she can do. Then we'll run some exercises, with Hebert-san helping take charge of a third of the class."

He looked questioningly at me, and I nodded in return. That sounded doable.

The class continued to gossip as we made our way to a training ground, but I didn't pay much attention. An assessment of my quirk, huh? That sounded ominous. I'd pay good money that Nezu wanted to see what I was capable of.

-o-o-o-

**So as mentioned earlier, this version of the chapter could potentially be scrapped if unanimously disliked. I'm a little unsure about my choice regarding Taylor's current arrangements. Might also need to polish up some of the dialogue and the mess that is the later half of this chapter. The pace feels really slow and draggy, and I'm not sure whether to speed things up a tad.**

**Incidentally, I've only actually ever read part of the manga up till Chapter 190 or so and not watched the anime at all, and have no idea how characters are supposed to sound like outside of what fanfiction I've read. I really should go watch the anime so characters aren't so dead.**

**Probably a ton of typos as well. I'll be correcting them as I see them when I re-read this massive pile of dung that is post-exam trauma relief.**

**From this chapter on, I'll be handwaving Taylor as being able to talk in Japanese so you don't have to sit through the torture of me writing language changes every two sentences. There's only so much you can take before the Berry aneurysm pops. Just imagine a bug army carrying around dictionary sheets and Administration furiously cross-checking linguistics or something.**

**Edit 11/7: There you have it. Again, sorry if it's still not what you were expecting. I just don't see how the hero side would be willing to budge without Taylor at least covering enough of her life story to explain her appearance in the world. She's revealed less stuff compared to before, with very little personal revelations that could harm her.**


	4. The First Lesson

**Soooo it seems like almost everyone agreed that Taylor was acting way too out of character, even after accounting for her declaration of wanting a change in the way she handled things to Contessa in Speck 30.7. (Insert [Everyone disliked that.] meme)**

**I've revised the previous chapter a little to hopefully help bridge that. Hopefully she should now come across as a little more Taylor-like, dealing with potential but not confirmed allies. I've tried to insert a healthy amount of paranoia and distrust but also acting on a desire for a change in her methods. I don't really have good references for post-timeskip Taylor working with such a situation, and kind of worked a middle ground between how she handled the wards/Undersiders and just about everyone else.**

**If you don't want to read that massive pile of dung again (i.e. you're not a masochist), some main differences are that she hasn't directly revealed that she's killed anyone, Scion's true nature is hidden, she hasn't revealed the bit about what she did to Lung to the students and Aizawa (potentially Nezu) is reading between the lines. Less personal information that might harm her is divulged.**

**Hopefully it makes for a better read now. I'm uploading these up as I churn them out, and not really reading through how it looks properly. Sorry for how the first draft turned out, and thank you very much indeed for your comments and suggestions. I'm sorry for everyone who was disappointed in how things turned out. I might revise it again, if it turns out to instead be a massive, festering pile of dung with melaena now.**

**On the other hand, this chapter might be even worse than the last. Brace yourselves. I'm expecting most people to abandon this story soon.**

* * *

**Chapter 4: The First Lesson**

I had been unceremoniously dumped at the entrance of a training ground of some sort based on the simulation of a city. Just how much money did this high school have?

According to Kan, the task was simple. Applicants to the high school had to take part in a practical exam pitting them against an army of robots, competing against one another to take them down. There were villain points for their destruction and rescue points for helping other examinees, but in my case I was simply tasked with elimination of as many robots as I could in a ten minute window.

The rest were still in range of my bugs, gathered comfortably in a control room somewhere. I had enough bugs present on their clothes and hidden up in the ventilation system of the room to eavesdrop on everything they said.

It was fortunate Nezu hadn't thought that I was hiding more of my abilities after he'd caught me out once. Either that, or he was hoping that I would eventually trust them enough to reveal them by my own discretion. Maybe he simply didn't want to push me right after I'd folded into his suggestions. Thinkers liked playing long games like this.

I had been gathering bugs through the walk here, out of sight from the students, but ready to descend upon the grounds at a moment's notice. The buildings of the training ground were remarkably realistic, containing an actual sewage system somehow connected to the school and Musutafu City beyond, ventilation, dank alleyways and more, perfect areas where my bugs could be hidden.

"Are you ready, Hebert-san?" Kan's voice came from both the speaker attached to my costume and from the senses of my bugs in the control room, the barest of delays just discernible.

"Yeah," I said. A moment later, my voice echoed back in my mind. Seems like they were putting my microphone on loudspeaker then.

Of course, I had already been working at the task since the moment I'd come into range of the grounds. The robots had been set up, not yet operational, but bugs were freely crawling around them. I was somewhat disappointed at what I saw. Unless they somehow had a way of purging bugs in a wide area, the task would be _way_ too easy.

Joints were exposed, allowing my bugs to freely gain access to wires and circuitry. Experimentally, I had some bugs bite at one of them, and found that there wasn't any countermeasures in place against simply taking apart their circuits. A single bite tore off the smallest of chips of the copper wiring, not enough to cause any damage, but a couple of thousand bugs targeting weak points would be enough to shut one of them down.

I had well over two million bugs available to strike, hiding in the sewers and shafts, and more reinforcements if necessary outside the training grounds but within the range of my power.

These weren't _anything_ like Dragon's creations. Hers were refined, almost impossible to take out with bugs, self-repairing systems with the firepower to match. I'd lucked out against the Azazel by using its programming against itself.

"Begin!"

My bugs felt Kan press something in the control room. The robots came to life, my bugs shifting as they moved.

Nezu knew that my power was bug control. Why wouldn't he provide the robots a way to destroy my bugs? Insect repellent, simple closing of the joints, heating or cooling systems were all viable and fairly easy ways to deal with me. So why?

It hit me. Of course. This wasn't a test for _me_, this was an opportunity to show what I could do. The students needed to respect me if I was going to be a teaching assistant.

I called my swarm.

I heard shrieks and shouts as a tide of miniscule black bodies flew out from underneath the city, from the insides of buildings and more locations where I'd sent them.

"_Holy shit!" _someone was swearing.

"_Language!"_ a girl chastised. It might have been Setsuna, but I wasn't too sure. "_But yeah. Holy shit."_

I stood comfortably where I was, still at the entrance to the grounds. The entirety of its length was within the range of my power, and I didn't need to do a thing.

I tuned out the rest of the conversation in the room, casually directing my bugs around. Bugs of all sorts chewed their way through wires, sending robots toppling over. Others were hit by projectiles and jets of flame, but the tide of insects didn't cease. I jammed weapon systems with webs, causing robots to blow themselves up. When they'd run out of silk in their glands, I sent spiders to clog up barrels and anything that seemed even remotely like a weapon, sacrificing my disposable minions to take them down. Those that couldn't bite or tear blinded their extremely obvious visual systems, guiding robots toward each other as friendly fire crippled them.

This was just a bit too easy. I needed to show off some sense of versatility, show that Skitter and Weaver were more than just the bugs they brought.

My bugs located a group of nearby robots. I diverted the bulk of that subsection of my swarm away, leaving just enough to leave a small number of bugs on their bodies to track their movements and attacks.

I made my way toward them, standing about twenty metres away. I stood just outside of their vision, my bugs showing me where they were looking at. Plunging my stump into the ground, I formed an asphalt mimic about half my size, then cut the connection, ending the shaping process. With my other hand, I formed a much larger version that ripped it out of the ground.

Then, I reared that hand back, and _threw_.

My makeshift projectile struck on the upper half of a two-pointer, sending it falling back into two one-pointers just as I'd intended. A visible dent had been left where my creation hit, cracks radiating out from the centre. Steam and sparks flew from the three downed robots, and they didn't rise again.

The other few robots turned quickly toward where my projectile came from. A second chunk of asphalt was already in motion as they did so, smashing into another two-pointer. While all this was happening, I was already in motion, running around the corner of a building since the instant that I released my second attack.

My bugs shifted as robots looked around, searching for a phantom enemy that wasn't there. As their attention shifted, I dashed out from behind the corner of the building I was hiding behind, on the other side of a junction where I had initially attacked from. I shaped a hand that grabbed at the leg of a one-pointer, its smaller size allowing me to actually swing it around as my asphalt limb grew in size. I doubted that I could move the larger robots the same way; the limbs created from my version of Theo's power were either too small in size to support their mass or too large and the shaping too slow to swing them around.

The one-pointer swung into a second of its fellows, as the two crumpled into the ground. I cut off my power, running off to a side as my bugs felt the sole remaining three-pointer point an arm toward me. The missile it released missed comfortably, leaving the ground where I had been standing on charred in the aftermath of its explosion. Once again, I hid behind a building.

Right then. Too heavy to be thrown, and I didn't quite want to use my bugs to swarm it. I had to impress my students-to-be, after all. What could I do?

Webs? Too simple, and I'd already done that with the other robots. I _could_ use Rachel's power to strengthen some minions, but I wouldn't be able to control my other bugs tearing swathes through robots elsewhere in my range. Besides, it just didn't seem elegant to rely on the brute force of my empowered insects.

There probably was some way to disable the robots without fancy powers, but it didn't immediately strike me. Perhaps an off-button sequestered away somewhere, but my bugs hadn't found one yet. Regardless, doing that wouldn't really be impressive.

What could I do with Theo's power? I couldn't exactly move it, given its size.

An idea came to my mind. It was too heavy to be moved, but did I really need to _move_ it?

Once again, I formed a new hand, securing it around one of its legs. It was too large to be thrown, but I could restrain it.

With its movements impeded, I pounced toward it, circling around while it tried to turn, leg catching against the restraints I'd created. From behind, I plunged both arms deep into the steel of its remaining exposed leg. As quickly as I could, I formed two limbs, one complete and one a simple stump, enlarging them as much as I could. They emerged at the back of the very top of its head.

At their maximum size, I cut off my power, then formed new limbs extending _out_ from the ones I'd created. Then I did it again, and again, all the while watching it try to turn around and target me, the single asphalt hand slowly cracking as it struggled.

Too late for the robot. Three repeats of that process later, two limbs each about nearly the length of the robot's height jutted out from the front of its head, away from me. The mass and position was enough to destabilise its centre of gravity, sending it careening face first down to the ground below, the trapped leg snapping off from the tension of its own weight while trapped by my asphalt hand.

"_Holy shit!" _I heard the same boy shout.

"_Language, Monoma!" _The one that I thought was Setsuna scolded. _"Hey, Tetsu! You think that Taylor-chan could do that when you use your quirk?"_

_Could_ I do that? I had no idea. The thought did cross my mind when I'd read about his quirk, though. Theo hadn't been able to use it against Hookwolf, but he'd said it was because Hookwolf's metal hooks and blades were too thin for his power to act on. Something I could try later, maybe.

I heard the boy grunt. I couldn't quite discern what his tone was supposed to convey through my bugs. _"I hope not. No way I'm letting her try."_

Well, there went those plans.

Of course, while I had been taking on that small group of robots, my bugs had been more efficiently destroying robots throughout the training ground. The last one I could find fell over, exploding as my bugs did something that probably overloaded its circuits. If there was one thing I enjoyed about all of this, it was finally having my revenge at bullshit Tinker creations, even if this one was extremely subpar.

"I think that's all of them," I said.

Kan took a moment to reply. Shock, awe? Wariness at my methods? I hadn't demonstrated just exactly how far my control went, after all. I hadn't even gone all out yet; I had many more bugs lying in wait.

"Not quite," his voice came at me twice. "There's still the zero-pointer."

He pressed another button, and I felt the ground nearby open up as bugs were displaced. A robot rose up on a platform, emerging to stand just short of a hundred metres high, dwarfing the nearby buildings. Immediately, it began to move toward me.

"Ah," I said. It fired a rocket toward my position. Placing my hand on the side of a building, I built a new limb that intercepted with it in mid-air, shielding me from the attack.

At the same time, I ordered my bugs to converge onto my location. The first of the bugs crawled over its surface. It seemed to have the same weaknesses the other robots did, gaps small enough for bugs to enter, cheap wiring and altogether much less threatening than the Tinker creations I was used to. It looked like destroying it would be quite a simple task, really.

Actually, thinking about Tinkers, I wanted to try something out. It hadn't quite worked against Dragon's creations, but it was already evident that the designer of this robots was far, far below her level. That, and they probably weren't meant to be very robust builds, seeing as they were meant for inexperienced students to handle and destroy. Replacements probably weren't cheap.

I stepped toward it. It loomed over me, multiple red optic sensors staring right into me. Its hands were in motion, and I got Theo's power ready just in case my gamble failed.

It hadn't worked against the Azazel, but…

"Hey. Do you talk?"

"HERO IDENTIFIED. COMMENCING EXTERMINATION," its robotic voice intoned. Excellent.

"This statement is false," I declared.

For a second, there was no reaction. Well, it was worth a try, I guessed. I prepared my bugs to go on the offensive.

Then, the red eye-like sensors blinked, sparks began to emerge, and its arm froze.

"STATEMENT TRUE. FALSE. FALSE. FALSE. StateMENT is TRUE. HERO detected. COMPUTING. COMPUTING. COMPUTIIII -"

Its voice stuttered. I heard a small explosion, and smoke emerged from its head as the red eyes dimmed.

"…Seriously? That worked?"

I could hear the students shouting along the same lines.

-o-o-o-

"Seriously?" Setsuna Tokage asked unnecessarily. "Are you shitting me right now?"

"Language, Tokage-san!" Shiozaki gasped. "It is uncouth for you to swear!"

Setsuna turned to face her classmate. "Why are you scolding me but not Monoma-san?"

Shiozaki's cheeks reddened. "I, ah, was distracted."

Setsuna's senses tingled, and she pounced. "Oh, Ibara-chan? Could it be that our pure and virtuous classmate might have thought something 'uncouth'? Could you perhaps have thought 'Holy shit' like the rest of us?" She ignored Shiozaki's rising denials, giving a mock gasp. "My word! Is this the kind of influence that Taylor-chan has? Is any one of us safe?"

She felt a hand on her shoulder. Itsuka's, probably. True enough, Setsuna heard her scolding. "Knock it off, Tokage-san."

"Spoilsport," she stuck her tongue out. Looking around, she noted that her classmates were impressed and intimidated in equal measures. "Hey, Monoma-san! What did you think?"

"Huh?" He looked more than a little caught off guard, a little unlike his haughty self. Hmm, would there be some friction there? "Umm… I guess she's quite something…"

His voice trailed off. Setsuna didn't know what he was thinking about. In the few weeks that they had classes together, she got the sense that he liked a sense of superiority, being the smartest one in the room. He had been furious when the news broke about 1-A being caught in the attack on USJ, thinking it some attempt on their part to gain attention. Was he jealous of Taylor-chan's quirk? Was he scared?

She moved on to other classmates. "Pony-chan! What did you think?"

The girl, bless her, looked surprised at being addressed. "Tokage-san! I think that Taylor definitely has…" she hesitated. Pony did have some trouble fitting in with the rest, slightly ostracised because of her difficulty communicating in Japanese. Assholes, the lot of them. The girl was one of the nicest Setsuna had ever met. "_Experience," _she said in English.

Setsuna smiled. "Right? Did you see how she took made those robots take out each other? She wasn't just all bugs, she went up close and personal!"

"Yeah!" Pony was nodding rapidly. The sweet girl was happy to be included, poor thing. Setsuna was definitely going to make an effort to talk to her more. Maybe drag Taylor into it as well, if she could. The two could speak in English together, and maybe Pony could have a good friend to talk to.

Setsuna pulled Kendou over to the conversation. "Itsuka-chan! What about you?"

She squirmed uncomfortably. "Well, I think Taylor-san is definitely going to be a good addition to our class. I look forward to working with her."

"Stop being so proper!" Setsuna chided. "Tell us what you _really_ think!"

She coughed nervously. "I, uh, I don't think it's right to discuss about our classmate while she isn't here!"

"Meh," Setsuna commented. "Fine then, keep your secrets. I'll tell Taylor-chan you said bad things about her."

"I did not!" she immediately denied. Itsuka was way too easy to rile up. It was almost cute. "I think that she's really smart, using her quirk like that!"

"See, was that so hard?" Setsuna smiled. "She didn't even use her quirk on the zero-pointer, though."

"That's the best part, right?" Kinoko cut in. Huh, she was actually talking! Setsuna had been worried when the girl had shyly opted out of conversations when she'd tried to include her. Would wonders never cease? "She didn't just rely on her quirk, she used everything that she could. And she used her quirk in such a smart way, too, I didn't think to put my spores _inside _the robots and grow them up when I took the exam!"

She spoke more than a single sentence? Setsuna really needed to treat Taylor to a meal at some point.

"Yeah! I took the recommended students' exam, but I wouldn't have thought to separate a part of my body and destroy them from inside!" And wasn't that something to consider. In fact, couldn't she technically send a finger or something down someone's mouth and block their airways or something? Scratch their fleshy insides?

Those were kind of distressing thoughts. She tried not to think about them. What less extreme methods could she employ?

Taylor blinded the robots' eyes with bugs. Maybe she could do the same with a few fingers? Or use that trick that she did against the three-pointer, hold down their legs with an arm and send the rest of her body to tackle them down?

There was a lot of potential there for her to learn. She really needed to talk to Taylor about it.

Kan-sensei cleared his throat. The talking ceased. "Good job, Taylor-san. You cleared the task two minutes ahead of time. You took out seventy-five one-pointers, forty two-pointers and fifteen three-pointers." Then he paused, before begrudgingly adding, "And the zero-pointer."

He grumbled under his breath, turning off the communication to Taylor's speaker. "I don't know how no one thought about a _paradox _when they designed those things."

Setsuna saw him press the button again, continuing communications on the speaker system. "We will be joining you again shortly. Please make your way out to the training field next door, and we can begin the lesson proper."

With that, Kan-sensei gestured for the class to follow him. Obediently, they did so, all the while talking about how Taylor was either awesome, terrifying or batshit insane. Shiozaki hadn't appreciated that last descriptor.

Of course, no one had any clue that Taylor had been listening in all this while.

-o-o-o-

I had been waiting for only a few minutes when the rest of the class approached. I had dispersed most of my swarm, leaving only a few hundred thousand with me. I didn't know just exactly what I would be doing during this class. Hopefully I could wing my way through it.

Surely this couldn't be any more difficult than training Theo to prepare for his inevitable duel with Jack Slash, right?

"Kan-sensei," I greeted him. "How are we going to do this?"

"You'll take six students, and I'll take the other fourteen. We'll be preparing for the UA Sports Festival. I'll be talking to you later in private about it, but it's an annual event we hold for students to showcase their abilities and get scouted by Pro Heroes," he added, seeing my non-recognition.

A glorified PR event? "What kind of things are there in this festival?"

"A range of different events, but mostly ones that allow the students to showcase their quirks and heroic abilities."

"Okay," I said. It didn't seem too difficult. "You want me to train them about using their quirks or battle strategies?"

"Whatever you feel comfortable with. It's in two weeks, you will have more time to work with them," he told me. "Is that alright?"

"Sure," I nodded. "Which six do you want me to work with?"

"You can take your pick, whoever you feel most comfortable with. You know most of their quirks already."

I considered the information that I'd been provided with. Most of my experience came down to my personal use of bugs for long-range reconnaissance and planning for missions, traps and ambushes. I'd worked with the Undersiders mostly in hit-and-run attacks, the masters of escape. With the wards, Tecton had opted for a team composed primarily of Shakers, moulding the battlefield to our advantage. Of course, as Khepri, I had worked with just about every cape I could find.

I thought about who would fit best with my experience. There weren't exactly any Masters among them, although Tokage Setsuna's, Pony Tsunotori's and Komori Kinoko's quirks could be seen as functionally creating a minion-like effect. Shiozaki Ibara, Honenoki Juzo, Tsuburaba Kosei and Bondo Kojiro could work as Shakers.

Perhaps I could work with a Brute as well, seeing as Rachel's dogs had functioned as the effective Brutes of our team. Trumps were also easy fits into any team, and Monoma Neito's quirk was a clear and simple Trump power.

How could I set up the team? I didn't really know how they would fit together, both in terms of their quirks and as people. I thought back to the eavesdropping I had done after taking with the zero-pointer with the power of paradox.

Setsuna had been outgoing and seemed to speak her mind, almost overwhelmingly so. She seemed decent enough a person, although I wasn't sure quite how to deal with people like that. The people she'd talked to hadn't seemed to mind her presence.

Come to think of it, weren't all of them on my consideration list?

A potential team was there. Setsuna, Pony, Kinoko, Ibara, Itsuka and Neito? Were there too many Masters?

"Taylor-san?" Kan-sensei called. I must have been taking too long considering. "Have you decided?"

It would probably be fine to work with them during this lesson, I supposed. It would take too long to set up a perfect team.

"I can try working with Tokage, Pony, Komori, Shiozaki, Kendou and Monoma," I said. "If that's alright with them?"

"Sweet!" Setsuna raised her fists up in the air, detaching them from her body and flashing me a thumbs up. "We get Taylor-chan!"

"Behave, Tokage-san!" Itsuka tapped her still floating hand, then turned toward me. "Of course it's fine, Taylor-san. I'm sure we can learn a lot from you."

Pony and Kinoko gave shy smiles, Ibara nodded while Neito didn't comment. He had seemed off since this morning, even before I had demonstrated my power during the assessment. I would need to talk to him about that.

"Alright then. The rest of you, follow me. Call me if you need any help, Taylor-san."

The students departed with Kan, leaving me with my new bunch of students.

"You're probably wondering why I picked you for this lesson," I said.

"Because we're awesome?"

Setsuna was beginning to remind me a little bit of a less annoying Aisha. I ignored her remark.

"Where I come from, we classify powers into different categories. Mover, Shaker, Brute and Breaker. Master, Tinker, Blaster and Thinker. Striker, Changer, Trump and Stranger."

Pony perked up at those terms. "English?"

"Yeah. They were devised by the group in charge of heroes in America in my world. I or the other senseis might go over them during other classes. Generally speaking, if all else fails, there are some very standard strategies in dealing with different power sets based on their classification."

They were paying close attention to my words. Good. "I'd qualify as a Master, using minions as part of my power. I've worked with Shakers that alter an area in my old team, and my use of webs could technically count as a Shaker-like effect. A Brute with enhanced physical attributes is typically present in any team to deal with threats up close, and a Trump that manipulates powers fits well into any team."

I pointed at Setsuna. "I have no idea what you technically qualify as, maybe a Changer or Breaker. Functionally though, your quirk has very versatile uses, with effects that could mimic Masters, Movers, and Strangers."

Next was Pony. "Like Setsuna, you don't fit clearly into technical power classifications, although your horns could function as a Master and Mover effect."

I addressed the next three at once. "Kinoko – if I may call you that – your quirk works a little like a Master and Shaker effect. I'm not sure how much control over your spores you have, but we can try and explore other uses of your quirk. Ibara, yours is again technically a Changer power, but Shaker in its application. Likewise for you Itsuka, but with a Brute application."

Finally came Monoma, and probably the easiest to work with. "You have a Trump power, a good fit to round off any team."

Silence.

"So you're saying we _do_ make an awesome team, then?" Setsuna chirped.

I groaned. "If that's what makes you work with me, sure. You all make an awesome team. Happy?"

She flashed me a grin, rejoining her still-floating hand with her body.

"For today, I was thinking that we could work on an exercise in battlefield control. A common strategy would be for Shakers to modify an area with traps or to lead an opponent somewhere where a Brute or Striker could attack up close. Masters can work from far away, either for reconnaissance or to pick off stragglers, or to deal with enemies that breach the zone of control of Shakers. Trumps can adapt on the fly, reacting to their enemies actions and assisting their teammates wherever necessary."

"You're saying _I'm_ awesome, then?" Monoma gave a weak smile. Now _that_ was more in line with the information on my file. Calm, collected, supposedly with a bit of a superiority complex. Kind of fit the Trump mould, really.

"You get the same answer I gave Setsuna."

"What kind of exercise are you thinking of, Taylor?" Pony asked curiously. I noted that she dropped the honorific when addressing me. Kindred souls, probably. It was honestly beginning to confuse me as to whether I should address them by their first names as I'd always done or their family name.

"For now, I'll give you a scenario." I gestured at the open training ground. With no buildings or other environment, it would probably be the easiest way to work with their quirks. Making use of environmental hazards or potential areas of ambushes would be a lesson for another time.

"You are tasked with defending an area from enemy villains until the end of the lesson. Their quirks are unknown to you. If any one of them stays in the zone for longer than fifteen seconds, you lose. For simplicity's sake, physical contact with one of them means elimination from the scenario, except in Setsuna's case where you can designate one body part of a reasonable size as being your defeat condition. Pony will be allowed to attack with her horn. Itsuka can freely attack them, but will be considered as defeated if swarmed by more than three. Neito's defeat condition follows whichever quirk he's using."

"Who are these villains you're talking about?" Ibara asked.

Wordlessly, I called my swarm, organising them into human-sized swarm decoys.

The shy Kinoko shrieked.

On second thought, that probably wasn't one of my better ideas.

"Umm…" Setsuna asked, staring disbelievingly at the hundreds of bodies composed of random bugs. "No offense, but do you have anything less creepy?"

I sighed. "Give me a few minutes."

I dismissed my swarm, keeping the less nightmare-inducing ones, then called more butterflies, moths, ladybirds and similar bugs. I fashioned a few swarm decoys with the ones I had on hand while waiting for the rest.

"Happy now?"

"Aww, they're so _pretty!_" Setsuna cooed at a butterfly decoy.

I recalled one of Clockblocker's comments from before I'd officially joined as a ward. "You know that if you lose, you'll forever be known as having been defeated by _butterflies_, right?"

"We won't lose, then!" she said, pumping a fist. "Right guys?"

"R- Right!" Kinoko affirmed, sounding as though trying to muster her own confidence.

"You'll be defending a twenty metre by twenty metre square in the centre of the training ground. Take this time to prepare a strategy," I told them. "I'm gathering more bugs."

The group came into a huddle. I listened, curious as to what they're plan would be, given my extremely abbreviated overview of a possible course of action.

"Right! I think the most obvious strategy is to start far out at the perimeter, then slowly converge on the centre if we get pushed back. That way, Taylor-chan can't just keep us in the square and slowly overwhelm us."

"Won't it be difficult to take out stragglers if we stay far out on the sides, though?" Itsuka asked. "We'll get tired out if we had to rush at every single target every time. If we stay nearer to the centre, we don't need to move as much."

Ah, smart girl. I had been planning to slowly wear them out, then descend upon them with a tide of bodies. My plans would need revision.

"Hmm, you're right. We should fight just a little bit outside the square, then." Setsuna said. "Hey Taylor-chan! Will your butterfly bodies be behaving like regular villains?"

"For the most part, yes. I'll try to model their movements like humans," I replied. "A few of them will mimic some quirks, just to keep this scenario realistic."

"…it's like one of those zombie survival games," Ibara commented. The rest blinked.

"_You_ play zombie survival games? You, Ibara-chan? Our class' purest soul?" Setsuna was practically right in front of the girl's face, shaking her shoulders. Ibara stammered out some rushed denials.

"L-let's stay on track," Ibara hurried.

"I can grow some mushrooms to slow down their movements, but I'm not sure if they'll get in the way once we get forced to the square," Kinoko said.

"I've got an idea…" Pony began. "Tokage-san and I can rush around to take out targets so the rest don't have to move as much, since we don't get tired as easily. Shiozaki-san can, uhh…"

She trailed off, then looked at me, speaking in English. "I don't know how to translate this. Can you tell Shiozaki-san to lay some traps while Komori-san funnels them in?"

I raised an eyebrow. That was a fairly decent plan, all things considered. I translated for her.

"Great plan, Pony-chan!" Setsuna cheered. "Itsuka-chan can take care of the toughest ones that get nearest to us, and Monoma-san can assist as we go!"

"I can switch between three quirks at once. I'll start with Shiozaki-san, Komori-san and Pony-san, since we'll be beginning from the outside."

Seeing as the rest didn't show any signs of disagreement, he quickly touched and copied their quirks.

By this point, my bugs were ready. I had a few hundred bodies, and I planned to recycle the insects once they became downed.

"Okay. Everyone ready?"

They nodded, and moved toward the area that I'd pointed out as the designated defend location.

Mentally, I rehearsed some possible quirk effects I could mimic. One that would let a body transform into butterflies and be reformed within a second of disassembly, one that grew wings and flight, one that could flatten itself and move along a two-dimensional plane. I would designate one as mimicking my Shaker power, while I made limbs of stone to simulate an enemy Shaker effect. I could come up with more on the fly.

"Begin."

"Wait!" Setsuna shouted. My soldiers paused mid-step. "You need to give us a villainous monologue!"

I stared at her, then relented. I said drily, "Beware, you heroes, of the Butterfly Legion. Our proboscises shall drink of your blood. Muahaha, ha."

With that, they advanced.

Immediately, Kinoko began growing mushrooms. It wasn't sufficiently humid to grow enough to completely block off the path of my advancing butterfly bodies, but I simulated them slowing down as they were funnelled along by the mushrooms. Ibara's vine-like hair grew and spread along the ground, helping to block out some of my soldiers as they advanced while destroying others as her quirk's effect speared out of the ground. Neito utilised Ibara's quirk, assisting her in her endeavours. It was clear that he wasn't as experienced in using her quirk, as his vines were slower and covered a smaller area.

Time to up the difficulty. I made one body move faster, mimicking a Mover's power. To their credit, the group reacted quickly, Setsuna and Pony both using their quirks to hit the target just as it was about to reach the centre.

"Hey! That's cheating!"

"I told you I'd simulate some enemy quirks," I said.

I made a few more bodies rush their targets. Pony and Setsuna destroyed most of them, but one reached the centre. Itsuka's arm enlarged and took it out with a punch.

I began to mix and match my mock villains. Movers came together with Brutes. I made the Brutes require several hits before dismissing them and sending them back to the periphery, where I made new bodies again. The students faired decently well for people who hadn't had much combat experience, but I was being extremely lenient in terms of how durable and slow I made my minions.

I continued on at this tempo, increasing the durability of my minions over time. I increased the speed that the regular goons took to clear the mushroom field, and made them avoid obvious traps set up by Ibara's quirk. My mock intangibility Breaker passed through the mushroom field with ease, hiding amongst them while Setsuna and Pony were blocked by their teammate's Shaker power. Neito became the one designated to take them out, switching over to Setsuna's quirk to cover a wider area.

A couple of my Brutes and Movers made it to the centre, but each time they were destroyed by Itsuka or Neito within a couple of seconds. I counted a clean hit by the Brutes as having sufficient force to take them out.

After ten minutes at that pace, I ramped it up slightly. Flyers came into play, forcing Pony, Setsuna and Neito to engage them. My soldiers that had the simulated ability to flatten themselves ran undetected for awhile, until they began to edge close to the centre. At that point, Ibara altered the area covered by her vines, forming barbs that hooked at my soldiers. I counted that as a successful kill, and sent my bugs back to the periphery.

On and on it went. The students were clearly becoming tired, but they were completely engaged with the lesson. At least that aspect wasn't a failure.

For the next five minutes, I added my Shaker effect to the mix. Hands of stone tore at Ibara's vines, allowing other soldiers to advance through. The sharp-eyed Itsuka spotted the swarm body mimicking my Shaker effect with its hands buried in the ground, and pointed it out to Pony. Immediately, she sent horns spearing through it, and I allowed them thirty seconds of respite before sending that particular variant of my minions into play.

I sensed Kan and the other students approaching. They stood a respectful distance away. Thankfully, my students hadn't noted their arrival yet. I wasn't quite sure what they thought about my teaching methods, but I didn't want to turn and look at them just yet.

Kan walked up to my side. "How long have they been at this?"

"About… twenty-five minutes, give or take. There's still another five minutes of this lesson, right?"

"Yeah. Mind if I watch? Your method seems rather interesting."

I shrugged. "Be my guest."

With five minutes left, it was time to bring out the big guns.

I made several bodies converge together, forming a giant of a butterfly-man. He stomped through the mushroom field with ease. Pony, Setsuna and Neito hurried to engage that one.

"Holy shit, that's so not fair!" Setsuna was shouting.

Just to spite her, I made another one of those.

They altered their tactics. Kinoko began growing mushrooms on top of mushrooms, forming a larger wall. For the purpose of the exercise, I slowed my giants down as they reached that obstacle. Ibara's vines lashed at an arm several times, and I disassembled it from the giant's body, sending the constituent butterflies down to the ground where they formed more of the regular minions.

I made a note of the time. I wanted to give them a win, of course, just to boost their confidence, but I wanted to make it memorable.

More fliers came into play, Brutes carried on their backs. When the fliers were destroyed by Pony's horns, the Brutes fell onto the ground, charging at a decent pace toward the centre. Itsuka engaged them, joined by Neito who hastily switched from Pony's power.

Neito was doing pretty well, bolstering his team wherever it was needed. For future exercises I considered making him or Setsuna the designated leader, just to see how that idea turned out.

All the different kinds of soldiers were on the field. At a time, two Shakers were not just countering Kinoko's and Ibara's quirks, but also directly impeding Itsuka and Neito as they fended off approaching soldiers. Only when both Shakers were taken out did I cease that power, giving them twenty seconds of breathing room before forming more of those.

As the exercise had progressed, the students had developed their own priority order. Shakers came first, then fliers and other Movers, with Brutes handled by Itsuka and Neito whenever he was available, and regular soldiers mostly taken out by the Shaker duo. Breakers were targeted by Setsuna and Pony whenever they made their way close enough. I was pleased with their ability to adapt on the job.

At one minute to go, I escalated further, forming soldiers with combinations of powers. A giant Mover/Brute carrying a payload of normal unpowered underlings, Shakers protected by Brutes, Movers with Breaker effects. More and more of my minions were entering the square, as the students became boxed into the middle.

I double checked the timing. If everything went right –

The bell rang.

I dispersed the bugs that formed my army, walking up to check on my students.

"Oh, my God," Setsuna was panting, reassembling her scattered body parts. "Did we win?"

"Congratulations. The bell rang at the fourteen second mark."

"We didn't lose to butterflies!" Kinoko cheered, her mushroom-like hair dishevelled and coated with sweat, her normally hidden eyes exposed.

"Those weren't just butterflies," Neito said sagely, words punctuated by rapid, deep breaths. "They were _zombie_ butterflies."

He appeared drastically different from how he had earlier in the day. I didn't quite know what was up with him, but at least whatever this exercise was seemed to help.

"You're right! That actually was like a zombie survival game!" Setsuna agreed.

"You know, Taylor-san, you're actually a really nice person," Ibara said.

"Hmm?"

"You let us win on purpose, didn't you?" She smiled softly, sweeping and tidying at her hair in the aftermath of her quirk.

"No comment."

"Taylor, can we do this again next time? That lesson was really useful!" Pony looked at me with pleading eyes. It was hard to resist.

"Yeah!" Setsuna shouted, practically lunging forward to hold my hand. I stepped back, just out of her reach. She pouted. "We learned a lot about each other's quirks!"

I looked to Kan. He shrugged. "Seemed like an effective lesson. You can keep working with them, if you want."

"I'll be increasing the difficulty," I warned.

"Holy shit, it's _actually_ a zombie game. Can we call it the Dawn of the Zombie Butterflies?" Setsuna said.

"No. Anyway, we need to get to our next class," I said.

"Fine. What about Left 6 Butterflies?"

"That doesn't even make any sense."

"Plants and Mushrooms vs Butterflies?"

I ignored her.

"Call of Duty: Butterfly Zombies?"

As the stream of horrible suggestions rose all the way while we walked back to class, I allowed myself a small smile.

That went better than I expected.

-o-o-o-

**Hope this chapter was at least better than the last one. Again, sorry for how the story turned out, and I hope that I can at least sustain your interest going forward. I'd appreciate comments on whether characterisation feels better now, or if its even worse than before (knowing me, that's probably the case).**


	5. Heroes and Villains

**Hey again. Here's another chapter, but again I have some reservations. As you probably could tell, I have no experience at all in writing, especially for conversations. I'm trying to work my way through some character development for Taylor, but I'm not sure if the pace of it feels off.**

* * *

**Chapter 5: Heroes and Villains**

"Hey, is that the Zombie Butterfly Girl?" Excited whispers came from a bunch of students as I walked through the corridor.

"Setsuna, one day I'm going to make you regret ever having come up with that ridiculous name," I threatened under my breath.

By my side, the girl in question was entirely unremorseful. "You're so popular now, Taylor-chan! Everyone wants to be your friend!"

I snorted. "The only thing they want is a demonstration of my training methods. Did you know that I've had three different groups beg me for a chance to play 'Zombie Butterflies: Return of the Butterfly Legion' since Monday?"

I used air quotations to emphasise the ridiculous name. As it turned out, some of the students that went with Kan had recorded the final moments of the training exercise, featuring my chosen six getting swarmed by an unending tide of bodies with increasingly complex powers. The video and Setsuna's poor choices of names had apparently spread like wildfire among the student body.

Hell, even _Nezu_ had caught wind of the video, and pulled me aside to talk about it. He'd watched it once, laughed, then rewound to the part where I'd created my giant butterfly monstrosities and began cackling, playing that bit over and over again. At that point, he put in an order for a metric crapload of butterflies of all colours and sizes.

Of course, I slyly 'suggested' to him that it would be an ideal time to also place an order of Darwin's Bark spiders, under the cover of costume-making and teaching my students how to avoid traps and capture. He had stared for a moment, carefully scrutinising me – probably with his Thinker power – then shrugged and signed on an extra order of a few thousand of those spiders. Apparently, you could get away with just about anything financially related under the pretext of 'teaching funds' when you were the principal of a ridiculously rich high school.

Just how had the villainous warlord Skitter descended to becoming a glorified arcade machine, anyway?

Now, two days after the exercise, I was beginning to fall into the rhythm of the classes in UA. In that time, I've only had one other class where I acted as a teaching assistant, going over power classifications with Kan leading the discussion.

It was fairly basic, all things considered, a simple overview of powers and common tactics to deal with them. The students I had chosen for my training exercise were particularly engaged with the lesson, voicing out their thought process behind how they'd handled the exercise and set up a priority order for taking out the mock villains. I had told them that next time, I would be increasing the difficulty and scope of powers, but that only seemed to make them more excited, if anything.

"You need to lighten up, Taylor-chan!" Setsuna laughed, playfully punching my shoulder. She really had no notion of personal space. "What do you have now, anyway? The rest of us have English as the last lesson of the day, but you don't need that class, right?"

I nodded. "All Might has asked me to help with his lesson. Apparently, he's doing a theory lesson in Heroics today."

She stuck her tongue out, detaching it to hover in mid-air a foot in front of her while she continued walking. That was really weird. "Theory? That's no fun. Sad for 1-A, then. Think you'll do alright?"

I shrugged. "I haven't sat in on one of their classes, yet. Hopefully it wouldn't be too different from what I've already done."

"Well, guess I'll see you later, Taylor-chan!" She waved, standing outside the door of class 1-B.

"Sure," I said. Class 1-A was right next door, but through my bugs I could sense that All Might wasn't in the classroom yet, still doing some paperwork in the staff office. I wasn't quite sure whether I should enter.

I considered waiting outside for him to show up. I still had no idea what he wanted me to assist with, and I really wasn't too keen on making small talk with the members of class 1-A. Setsuna had dragged me into her social circle by force after my lesson, the improvised training exercise having brought the six members closer together. It was nice to be included, altogether unlike my previous high school experience, but I was cautious about sharing more than I should.

Of course, it was at that moment that the door opened. Someone had to have been bug-free, because I had no warning from tracking the positions of my bugs.

I came face to face with Ashido Mina. With her extremely distinctive pink skin tone, black sclera and yellow eyes, there was no way of mistaking her for anyone else.

Right, wasn't her quirk the ability to create acid from her body or something along those lines? That could explain why she was bug-free. Statistically speaking, just about everyone should have at least a single bug I could control at a time.

"Oh, sorry!" she apologised, then took a good look at me. I was now dressed in my new Weaver costume without the mask, having retired my damaged Skitter outfit. I would create a new one again once the Darwin's Bark spiders came through.

"Oh! You're the Zombie Butterfly – I mean, Taylor-san!" she chattered excitedly. "Are you taking us for heroics today? Can we play the Butterfly Legion game too?"

…and that made four people who've asked for that exercise.

"No, I'm assisting All Might in a theory lesson today. You can't really do that exercise with your quirk, anyway." For a moment, she looked dejected, then recovered. I wasn't looking forward to committing insect genocide at the hands of her acid. Come to think of it, most of the class 1-A members wouldn't really work too well with that exercise.

"Well, come in, come in!" she waved enthusiastically, walking back into the classroom. I had no idea why she'd even left in the first place. "Attention, class 1-A! Taylor-san is going to be teaching us today!"

"I'm _assisting_," I stressed. "I don't actually know what All Might wants me to do."

"Same thing!" she said cheerfully, going back to her seat.

I looked at the students in the classroom, and they stared back. An uncomfortable silence fell over the room.

Mina took charge. "So! Why don't we introduce ourselves to Taylor-san? I'll start first! I'm Ashido Mina, my quirk is Acid, and I like dancing!"

She looked hopefully at the rest of her classmates, her smile slowly faltering when they didn't react.

Izuku came to her rescue. "I'm Midoriya Izuku, Taylor-san! I- I want to be a hero!"

He was so painfully innocent, but there was an openness that was almost sweet. I nodded at him, giving an attempt at a smile.

One by one, members of the class began to introduce themselves. Some were enthusiastic, some were aloof, and Koda was still outright shy or fearful. Kirishima had joined Mina in asking whether they would be allowed to take part in my training exercise (which now had the even more bizarre name of Zombie Uprising: Butterfly Rampage 2), and I told him in no uncertain terms to never call it that again.

Where even was All Might? I had been late in entering the class, what with Setsuna slowly taking her time strolling back to her own lesson. The round of introductions had taken up even more time, such that well over ten minutes had passed into the forty-five minute period.

My bugs told me that he was _still_ in the staff room. I made a few flies loop in circles in front of his face, and a few spiders crawl over the paperwork he was handling.

The couple of bugs I had on his shirt noted a twisting of his torso, followed closely by a loud shout of "_Oh shit!"_

He'd totally lost track of time, hadn't he?

My bugs could feel him change into his Brute form, rushing with speed toward the classroom. Within seconds, he arrived just outside the door, then paused.

The door opened.

"I AM…"

He stepped in. "COMING THROUGH THE DOOR LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!"

…this man was the 'Symbol of Peace'?

I glared accusingly at him. "Held up by paperwork?"

He gave a guilty smile, scratching the back of his head. "Thank you for your reminder, Young Taylor."

Then he turned to look at the class. "So, my young students! You must be wondering why I've asked Young Taylor to assist in my lesson today. Well, wonder no more! If you are to be heroes in today's world, you need to know about the differences between heroes and villains! For today's heroics lesson, we will be discussing _why _and _how_ heroes and villains differ. Who better to ask than Young Taylor, who has experienced both sides of the great divide of today's society?"

That wasn't quite what I was expecting. It wasn't entirely new to me, though, I had plenty of experience with that during my time as a ward. The visit to that school just before Behemoth struck New Delhi had been somewhat memorable, if only for the fact that it happened right before _Behemoth_.

Then again, was this another attempt by the teachers to pry some information out from me? I couldn't simply tell them everything about my past.

"Just to be clear, you want me to talk about the psychology of heroes and villains?"

All Might nodded rapidly. "Well put, Young Taylor! Would you like to begin?"

I took a few steps closer to the class. How did I do it back with the kids in that school? How had I phrased it to Miss Militia when she'd questioned me during the Nine's attack on Brockton Bay?

"Why do villains choose to become villains?" I asked.

"Because they're evil!" Kirishima gave a light bang on his table.

I raised an eyebrow. "You think I'm evil, then?"

"Umm…" he raised his hands in front of him, backtracking. "No, I mean, you became a hero and everything after –"

"It's fine. I get it." I cut him off. "That isn't quite the answer, though. I think that 'good' and 'evil' are _descriptors_ used to paint their actions in a certain light. Someone is evil because of their motivations or their methods, but I don't think you would describe someone as 'evil' on its own. Try again."

I picked a raised hand. "Yaoyorozu?"

"Villains desire power, and are more willing to take any action available to them to achieve it. They may lie, cheat, steal, kill and more if it gets them what they want," she spoke in a measured tone. It fit well with the information I had on her, supposedly calm and intelligent, and from a rich upbringing.

"That's one possible reason. Anyone else?"

"Money?" Ochako offered.

"Good. Next?"

"Society doesn't accept them?" Minoru Mineta suggested. With his rather small size, it wasn't hard to think that others might have discriminated against him based on that attribute. Had he given this thought before?

"Excellent. Can anyone think of other reasons?"

"Villains like to hurt people?" Izuku suggested timidly.

"A bit of a generalisation, but possible. I'd lump that underneath a desire for power as Yaoyorozu suggested."

The class seemed to be thinking about the question, but no more hands were raised. I offered some of my own thoughts.

"All very good answers. There are many differences between this world and mine, so I can't comment if the reasoning of my villains will be the same. First of all, I may have misled you all a little."

I spread my arms apart, emphasising the two extremes. "Hero. Villain. We classify them as a very binary divide, but the reality of it is much more complex. Some villains wear their label with pride, perhaps because they want to go against the restrictions placed on society, because it's a harder and more rewarding road, or perhaps because being a hero can sometimes mean very little." I echoed the words I had told Miss Militia so long ago.

I held a hand up, pausing their objections. "Few people ever actually want to see themselves as 'evil'. As a villain, I've protected others, I've done things that by definition are illegal, some things I regret and some things I don't. The truth is, the motivations of heroes and villains aren't always so different."

I thought to some examples. "I've known a hero who was extremely dedicated and hardworking. He was also a massive _dick_."

"Young Taylor –" All Might said.

"Don't worry, I know where I'm going with this," I reassured him. He must have trusted me, at least a little, because he didn't object just yet. "He was one of the most egotistic heroes I've met. He wanted credit for takedowns, wanted to be the hero that did things others could not. He would willingly sacrifice others if it meant that he could succeed where others failed."

Shouto Todoroki seemed to be paying very close attention since I started talking about an anonymised Armsmaster. I didn't quite know what that was about. Hopefully All Might had some idea.

"What happened to him?" Mina asked.

"He had a wake up call. It took him getting suspended, his arm chopped off, then suspended _again_, and finally almost being killed before he changed for the better. Less selfish, more willing to cooperate with others. At the end, he became a senior and mentor of sorts, someone that I could count on."

"I'm not saying that what he did is right, but what about the villain side of the equation?" Yaoyorozu questioned.

I considered how I wanted to phrase my answer. "The motivations of villains aren't always as clear as the three you've told me. Power, money and acceptance all fit into it, but sometimes circumstance can just as easily force someone into villainy."

"Think about it," I said, stepping across to the other side of the room, remaining engaged with the rest of the students. "In my world, powers are gained through trauma. In yours, they manifest at a young age. Can any of you say that you have a full control over your quirks when they arise?"

A couple of students shook their heads. Izuku was looking thoughtful.

I thought about the Undersiders. Rachel. "Think about the most dangerous of villains you've seen. The one at USJ could disintegrate with a touch. Could you say for certain that he couldn't have accidentally killed someone when he hadn't mastered his powers?"

Lisa. "Can you say for certain that a more powerful villain couldn't have forced someone with a useful quirk into their organisation? You've already told me that villains desire power and are willing to cross the lines that heroes won't."

I looked carefully at each student in the face. Brian and Aisha. "You mentioned money. Couldn't you say that a villain might have done some things to help someone else or be forced to commit a crime for survival? Something that wouldn't hurt anyone; petty theft, then slowly escalating further?"

Alec. "What about those _born_ into a life of villainy, where they've known nothing else but that?"

I paused. Myself. "How about those who are so restricted by the laws of society that they can't do the right thing? Some acts of villainy are born of heroic intentions, perhaps carrying out a task of a different villain to rescue someone under their control. Perhaps simply because the authorities are bound by rules and regulations, and can't intervene while people get hurt. By definition, _all_ of these people become villains."

I gave them some time to absorb what I said before going in for my main point. "Heroes and villains are what they are because of what they _do_, not what they _think_. I'm not familiar with all the heroes of your world, but I'm sure some of you may know a few heroes who you would never accept as such. Likewise, you may know some villains that you see yourself cheering for and supporting."

I looked toward All Might, seeing if he approved. He, too, looked thoughtful. What was on his mind?

"Taylor-san!" Izuku spoke up. "While all of that may be true, can't those villains become heroes? You became a hero, and I don't think you can be an 'evil' person if you saved us at USJ!"

"It's not so simple. Someone being forced into villainy isn't going to be given a chance to escape. Once you've crossed a certain line, there's no coming back, even if done by accident. My career change was something exceedingly rare. I've only known of one other before myself, and then personally took a few more over to my side after I'd become a hero."

I stepped back once more, standing behind the teacher's desk. Even Bakugou seemed to be mulling over my words. I gave them some time to think.

"But Taylor-san," Ochako said. "That just doesn't seem… right."

I gave a small smile. She was telling _me_ that? "I know. That's _why_ I'm telling you all about this. It's so easy to frame villains in the mould of 'evil', to justify your actions without knowing their motivations. Don't get me wrong, many villains are evil, and even as a villain I fought hard against them. All I'm asking is for you to consider that not all villains are equal, and not all heroes live up to your ideals. Some villains can be redeemed, but not if heroes continue to treat them all equally. Some heroes aren't necessarily 'good', but the rules set by society prevent any sort of punishment."

"What can be done, then?" Todoroki questioned, looking intently at me. "What do we do about the monsters wearing the skins of heroes? How do we win redeemable villains over to our side?"

_Finally_. Someone was beginning to question the way things were run. "I can't give you an easy answer. These heroes have committed no crime, and most of the time the people who _do_ know what drives them are extremely few. You wouldn't get public support for sanctions or other punishments against them. They may face some challenges they can't handle, find their own limits and possibly change for the better, or they can continue as they are. Occasionally someone turns to villainy to stand up against them, but that method doesn't necessarily guarantee they'll reflect on their actions. More often than not, a challenge to their ego only drives them further."

Todoroki was looking agitated. What was up with him? Was this a personal matter to him? Did I want to pry?

No, not right now. I didn't know these people, and they didn't know me. It was a wonder that this first lesson with them was progressing smoothly so far.

"What about you, Taylor-san?" Izuku asked, tilting his head to a side. "How did you become a hero?"

I paused. This wasn't a question I had been expecting during this lesson.

How could I tell him about Cauldron and Alexandria? About Dinah and the End of the World? About just how and why I'd killed Alexandria, convinced the heroes to twist the truth to give them a win, all the while strong-arming the heroes through the threats that the Undersiders had made?

"I can't tell you that. Sorry," I lied. I wasn't sorry at all.

He looked like he wanted to press further, but All Might gave him a look. Extremely subtle, one that probably no one else in the class caught, but my bugs were very sensitive.

"So," I continued. "I think we can agree that Heroes and Villains are labelled by their actions. Another part of what I'm going to do now is to show you just how fine the line is between what you perceive as a hero and a villain. Koda, you might want to look away, if you're still afraid of my bugs."

He gulped, but continued to look at me. I gathered bugs from nearby, enough to form a small swarm, but nowhere near what I would use in a fight. I had them crawl over my face, obscuring all of it, while the rest of my swarm formed a dense field around me.

"Ew, yuck! Yuck, gross!" Mina was shouting.

Glenn Chambers had said that I wouldn't be out of place among the Slaughterhouse Nine in the recording of my retaliation against Tagg. I remembered just what I had done. Now, I tried to actively repeat it. I found that I didn't mind showmanship in front of the students, probably because I didn't really see them as a threat. Capes on Earth Bet weren't at all like them.

I let my form show within the swarm, then shifted some bugs to block vision over myself. In that time, I stepped to the side, formed a swarm decoy where I had been, while obscuring my own position. I had broken line of sight for only a half-second, but it was enough to fool people regarding my location. I let the students track my decoy as it moved out.

Once the decoy broke clear of the swarm, I lunged out to the side, pretending to strike at a phantom foe.

With that done, I turned to look at the students, dismissing my bugs. "I think we agree that _that_ looked like the work of a villain."

The students didn't reply. All Might blinked at me.

"Um, Young Taylor, no offense, but was there a point to scaring your fellow students?"

"Yeah," I said.

I called over a couple of butterflies, presenting a more PR-friendly image. "Now, I look a bit more like a hero, I think. The same power, slightly different executions, but a very different way that people perceive the user."

"You're saying that quirks don't factor into the hero-villain divide?" Yaoyorozu said. "Our quirks in the hands of a villain could be very dangerous, but equally we choose to use our quirks heroically?"

"Yeah, I think you get the gist of it. Can you think of anyone with a quirk that can _only_ be used by villains?"

They thought about it for awhile. Izuku broke the silence. "What about the slime villain?"

"Slime villain?" I asked. That wasn't something I was familiar with.

"Yeah! His body was made of slime, and he could take over another person's body by entering through their mouth!" He said animatedly. Then, in a lower voice, he added, "He tried to take over me and Kacchan. All Might helped rescue us."

"Shut it, Deku!" Bakugou warned. That seemed like a sore topic for him. He probably wasn't used to humiliation or defeat.

I considered that power. A Breaker-state with Master elements? Morally speaking, forced possession could be wrong, I supposed.

Then again, who was I to speak on the morals of Mastering humans? I had been _Khepri_, and I had Alec on my team.

"A bit of a grey area, but you _could_ possess a villain, maybe. You could debate whether or not it's right, but I don't think you can get a clear answer. Maybe we agree that possession of, say, a petty thief would be wrong, but what about a murderer? A serial killer? Someone who destroys entire cities? Where would you draw the line?"

Izuku contemplated my argument, then spoke with determination, none of the flustering I had begun to associate with him. "I still think it's wrong."

Huh, good for him, standing by his own beliefs. If only he knew just what I'd done in my final hours on Earth Bet.

I nodded. "That's your judgment to make. If that's what you believe in, then stand by it. Just know that the line isn't always clear."

All Might clapped his hands. "Okay now, young students! We've heard a lot about heroes and villains from Young Taylor today. Your homework for today will be to write a short essay on how you might convince a villain to switch sides into becoming a hero. As future heroes, you will need to inspire not only the public, but also villains that their path is not the right one!"

He struck a pose. At that moment, the bell rang.

Had he timed that?

I nodded at All Might, and he gave me a smile. With that, I walked out of the classroom. Kan had said that he wanted me at a meeting with some of the other teachers.

-o-o-o-

Nezu wasn't an idiot. He had the quirk to prove it. He knew that Taylor Hebert was not all as she presented herself.

There were many holes in the story that she'd told them, large gaps that she'd glossed over. Very unsurprisingly, she had left out a large part of her personal involvement in many of the events of her world. There was an element of paranoia and difficulty trusting others, although she seemed to be more open with her classmates. That was good; a step in the right direction.

It was almost funny how Aizawa distrusted her until Nezu and Tsukauchi talked to him privately, seeing as both parties didn't trust easily. There was still lingering doubt, but at least he was willing to let her assist in teaching the students of class 1-A. Some of the ice between them was beginning to thaw. No doubt the healthy interactions with her classmates had convinced Aizawa that she was at least no threat to his students.

Incidentally, that 'Zombie Butterfly' exercise was one of the funniest things Nezu had seen all year. He might consider adopting an element of it when he was up against the students during the mid-term exam. Perhaps he could commission for an endless army of tractors to herd the students in, increasing in strength over time?

No, now wasn't the time for such distracting thoughts, as amusing as they may be. He was about to start a discussion regarding the upcoming Sports Festival, only waiting for a few more teachers.

Taylor Hebert chose that moment to walk into the room. He stood up on the chair, giving her a wide smile that she returned with a nod. She still wasn't completely open with him, it seemed. No matter; he could spend a lot more time with her.

The rest of the assembled teachers gave their own greetings. At the table were all of those that were present during their initial meeting with Taylor, except for Yagi and Chiyo.

"Taylor! Welcome, welcome. Please take a seat. We're just waiting for Cementos-sensei, Ectoplasm-sensei and All Might now."

"I was with All Might in class 1-A. He might take a while."

"I know, I know," he nodded. "For now, let's talk. How are you finding UA so far?"

"It's… different, I suppose," she said, measuring her words carefully. Once again, it was clear she wasn't completely trustful of him. "I'm getting quite used to it now, I think. I'll need to come up with more lessons soon though."

Under her breath, Nezu could hear her mutter quietly. Probably too soft for a human, but loud enough for his sensitive ears. "_If only so that they would stop calling me Zombie Butterfly."_

He smiled inwardly. Good, she was beginning to open up a little. Class 1-B was doing a fine job indeed.

"I believe you know the purpose of this meeting?"

She shrugged. "Kan said something about the Sports Festival. I thought that I wasn't going to participate?"

"That's the plan," he said. "With your position as a teaching assistant, people may ask questions about your involvement if you were to be in the main event. I don't think any of the other students can match you, anyway. I'm guessing that you probably have a way of countering even impressive students like Todoroki Shouto and Bakugou Katsuki?"

She made a non-committal sound. "I wasn't planning to participate, anyway."

Ah, still keeping things close to her chest. With her experience, Nezu was almost certain that she could take any of the other first years despite being severely disadvantaged in close quarters.

Ectoplasm entered the room, and those at the table exchanged greetings. Nezu realised that he and Taylor didn't know each other.

"Taylor, this is Ectoplasm-sensei, our mathematics teacher. You probably haven't met because you've already done mathematics before. Ectoplasm, this is Taylor Hebert, the one we've told you about."

They nodded at each other. "Yeah, I know. Setsuna told me about you."

Oh? First names? Very interesting.

"By the way, Taylor, I've studied your flight pack. I might have found a way to get it recharged, but I can't really replicate the antigravity panels. Would you want to drop by and get it back in a few days?" Maijima informed her.

"Take your time, I don't really need to use it while in school anyway. Thanks very much for your help."

Cementoss entered the room, joined by Yagi. This time, it seemed that he and Taylor knew each other. She did have to take modern literature, after all.

As they took their seats, Nezu called for the meeting to start. "Right! As you all know, the Sports Festival is coming up in two weeks. I've invited Taylor here to get her input on the planning of events."

She nodded. "What kind of events are there?"

"Traditionally, we begin with an obstacle course or something similar, then a random event, and finally a battle tournament. We were thinking whether or not to stick to the same first two events or to switch things up," Aizawa informed her.

"And you're asking me?"

"You have a unique insight into the heroics of your world," Nezu smoothly interjected. "You would be more-or-less a neutral party who could evaluate how well our plans would meet the objectives of the festival."

"What are these objectives, exactly? Kan mentioned something about getting scouted by Pro Heroes, but not much else."

Nezu nodded. "That's one of the objectives. Beyond that, we want to showcase our students' quirks, their heroic attitude, show off what the other courses can do and gain public support and confidence in our teaching."

She frowned. "So it's primarily aimed for the hero course students, then?"

"The other courses have their time to shine during the Culture Festival later in the year."

"Okay," she said, considering for a moment. "Okay. So you want the public to feel like UA is successful in raising heroes. Why an obstacle course, though? What kind of random events are you talking about?"

"The obstacle course allows students to showcase their quirks in their own unique ways. It's been very successful throughout the past years," Nezu informed her. "As for the second event, it ranges from a cavalry battle, capture the flag, king of the hill, an elimination battle and more."

Again, she frowned. "How exactly does that translate to heroics?"

Ah, that was interesting. Nezu could tell that she was going to have some unique insight. Aizawa and Nemuri looked equally intrigued. He gestured for her to continue.

"From what I understand, the obstacle race is going to be mostly an every-man-for-himself effort against environmental hazards that you set up?"

Nezu nodded. "Mostly, yes."

"That's going to disadvantage quite some quirks vital to hero work, though. Take search and rescue work as an example. It doesn't exactly factor in too well in the obstacle race; some people like Jirou from class 1-A may be disadvantaged when her quirk is ridiculously well suited for rescue work. Hell, I'm not sure how well I'd fare against the rest if I were just using my bug powers in a race. As for the other events…"

She hesitated. Nezu smiled serenely at her.

"Again, it seems like you're emphasising the combat aspects of your students, but you already have the tournament for that. Even in combat, some people may be disadvantaged depending on how the scenario is set up. A Blaster would dominate a long-range battle against a Brute, while a Striker could be advantaged in a battle up close."

"What would you propose, then?" Aizawa asked, a single eyebrow raised.

"Well…" she closed her eyes, thinking for a second. "You'll want the event to be balanced. Something that would reward quick thinking and adaptability, making the judgement calls that heroes would make. At the same time, you'll want to measure and compare their skills in different situations, whether single combat, rescue or group tactics. There's a lot of ways you could set up those first two events, if you want a tournament as the final one."

"That sounds reasonable," Yagi mused. "But what kind of events would they be?"

She shrugged. "Mock search and rescue efforts in an ongoing fight, team battles in different environments, surprise villain simulations against single teams. Depends, really. Would you rather students cooperate or work individually? There's so many ways it can go. Even working with the obstacle course idea, making it team-based changes the dynamic entirely."

"Most of the other classes don't really engage with the events, though. Usually only the hero classes and a handful from the other courses get past the first event. It might be difficult to field something as the first event if that's the case," Nemuri pointed out.

"You could set up multiple victory conditions so people aren't disadvantaged. If we go with the idea of an active battlefield, they could be taking out a certain number of villains, rescue enough civilians, or defend an area for a long enough duration, for example. That way people aren't disadvantaged by their quirks and can get the chance to showcase what they can do to Pro Heroes. At the same time, those who want to sit out won't get in the way of the other students."

That was actually a decent idea. Nezu considered the merits and logistics of something like that. It was similar enough to the entrance exam, that it wasn't entirely foreign. They had the robots, and contacts with rescue training companies who could provide actors for a scenario like that. If nothing else, it might make good training for the provisional hero license exams later in the year. "If that's the first event, do you have any ideas for the second?"

"Depends what you're trying to get at, really. There's a lot of different ways to evaluate your students."

Nezu nodded. "We can continue discussing this again at a future date. In the meantime, let us all think of ideas and see if we should replace our original events."

Those at the table nodded. Taylor rose to stand, but Nezu beckoned for her to continue sitting.

"Something else?"

"The Festival isn't just a chance for them to shine. We were hoping to help you get scouted by Pro Heroes as well. It's going to be an important part of getting your licence, after all."

For an instant, she froze, then masked her emotions again. She was hard to read, but Nezu enjoyed the moments when her hard exterior cracked. It showed that she was human, someone trying to adapt to this world. Reading between the lines, Nezu had known that she wasn't as innocent as her story alone seemed, but he didn't even need his quirk to tell that she was making an effort to change.

Of course, his and Tsukauchi's quirks just made it easier to show her some trust.

"What do you mean?" she asked in a level tone.

"We wanted you to have a presence at some events, maybe use some of your abilities during them. We originally planned for you to use your power as obstacles in the race, but if we're changing that we can come up with another alternative. Another idea we've bounced around is getting you to do something separate after the main stages."

"You could demonstrate a training exercise or your teaching methods," Hizashi offered. Then, he sniggered. "I'm sure the public would LOVE to see Zombie Butterfly –"

She glared at the loud hero. "Don't finish that sentence. How do you know about that, anyway?"

The heroes exchanged looks. She sighed. "_All_ of you know?"

"It's actually a good training exercise," Kan said. "Good practical experience, non-harmful, encourages the students to reflect and it's good fun for the students."

"Even if that's the case, I refuse to call it Zombie Butterfly, or any variant thereof."

She'd added the last bit upon seeing Hizashi about to come up with an alternative name. Unfortunate; some of them _were_ rather humourous.

"We can rebrand it later," Nezu waved aside her objections. "What we're trying to get at is that your lessons are something fresh in UA. We want to showcase that aspect to the public as well."

"That wasn't even a _good_ lesson," she said. "It's simple, direct, and a bit too static. It doesn't reflect a real fight. I only did it because they were completely inexperienced. I was planning to move on to different environments, traps and pitfalls, maybe different objectives."

Hizashi clearly thought of something, because he was trying to stifle his laughter.

Taylor sighed. "What is it now?"

"…you're saying there's a campaign mode?"

She ignored that remark. Nemuri chuckled.

Moments like this were nice. She acted like her own age, without the weight of whatever burden she carried from her world. Nezu hoped that this would continue.

"Anyway, keep thinking about it, Taylor. You've got two weeks until the festival."

"Fine," she said. "Do I get to pick my students for the demonstration?"

"If that's what you want," Nezu affirmed. "Are you planning to stick with those six?"

She nodded. "Probably. They work pretty well together, and their powers don't immediately destroy my bugs. I doubt you want to drain your coffers on butterflies. Incidentally, when will those bugs you ordered be arriving?"

"They should come within a week, definitely in time for the Festival. Are you going to be incorporating them into your showcase?"

"Maybe," she shrugged. "I'll think about it."

"Keep me updated," Nezu informed her. "If that's all?"

He looked around. No one had anything else to add. With a final nod, he rose, and the heroes trickled out of the room.

It seemed that Nezu just found Taylor's weakness. She was starting to care for her students, or at least was willing to help them out. His quirk allowed him to deduce from her words that she was doing the showcase more to demonstrate her students' abilities than to boost her own image.

He smiled. This was going along perfectly.

* * *

**Hopefully this chapter wasn't too boring. I'm not quite sure exactly how I'll do the Sports Festival arc, but I think I'll be changing the events up (as the events of this chapter suggest). Hopefully I can wing it and come up with something half-decent.**

**Of course, if people are extremely opposed to it, I'll revert back to the default events.**

**I might do a short slice-of-life interlude next chapter or jump straight to the Sports Festival, probably the former. **

**Thanks very much for your words and suggestions, even those who dislike how I handled things (especially Chapter 3, it seems). I'm trying to improve, and hopefully it feels that way. **


	6. Interlude - Calm Before the Festival

… **not gonna lie, I completely forgot that Present Mic was also fearful of insects.**

**Oops.**

* * *

**Chapter 6: Interlude – Calm Before the Festival**

Hatsume Mei wasn't someone easily impressed by inventions other than her own babies, but she was seriously considering marrying whoever created this work of divine perfection.

For five days, she had toiled away at studying the invention that Power Loader had brought with him. She had been told that under no circumstances was she to destroy or disassemble it, and he'd said that with such finality that she had reluctantly agreed.

The design of it was simply breath-taking. With other devices, the inventor in her could tell apart the work of other inventors through the small nuances and habits each person had; the subtlest changes in the fraying of wires, the way the joints were welded together, the smallest of imperfections just barely discernible with her quirk.

With this flight pack, there was the clear signs pointing toward it being a cooperative effort, but it was done so smoothly it appeared more like a single person had worked at it. Someone had worked to make the antigravity technology, then made more efficient by someone else, and finally the device pieced together by yet another person. It was something far out of the scope of her abilities, and it was _amazing._

It had taken two days to theorise a possible way of recharging the device. It took three more to actually find a method that worked. It was clear enough that it ran on electricity, but the sheer efficiency of it blew her away. She couldn't recreate any of it, only find a way to adapt a possible way to connect a power source to the power bank within it, if it could even be called a 'power bank'. It was fascinating.

It was while she was still carefully scrutinising the device that a chime went off, signifying a visitor to Power Loader's workshop. Not that she particularly cared, Power Loader-sensei could talk to their guest. All she wanted to do was study this device further.

She heard her name being mentioned by Power Loader. Her concentration broke for the barest of moments, listening to what was being said.

"…my student, Hatsume Mei. She's been studying your flight pack –"

THE OWNER OF THE WORK OF THE GODS WAS HERE?!

Immediately, she rushed out to the front, coming face to face with a girl wearing a blue-themed costume.

The flight pack was also blue.

"…can I please have your baby?" She squeaked out.

The girl blinked, then turned to face Power Loader.

"That's Hatsume Mei." He sighed. Then, turning toward Mei, he introduced the girl. "This is Taylor Hebert, a teaching assistant also studying in class 1-B. I told her that she could come over to collect her flight pack."

"Do you know who made it?" Mei asked desperately. "I need to know. Those antigravity panels! Those propulsion systems! That efficiency! That elegance! That baby is divine!"

She heard 'Taylor' sigh. "Is she always like that?"

"Unfortunately."

Mei heard her muttering under her breath. _"Tinkers."_

Then, she addressed Mei. "I don't think you can replicate it exactly, anyway. It's kind of part of their quirk."

"Can I meet them?" she asked excitedly. She could already imagine it. The babies they could make together…

"That's… going to be kind of difficult. They're gone."

That put a damper on things. No matter! "Do you have more of their babies?"

"No," she said. "Do you make inventions?"

Did she _make_ inventions? Was that meant to be an insult? "Inventions? My babies are the future!"

"Taylor-san, please don't get her in the mood –"

"Did you want something made? Did the brilliant mind that make your baby create other babies?" Hurriedly, she snatched up a nearby notepad and pen. She wouldn't miss any of this for the world.

"Um," Taylor turned to look at Power Loader. "Is this safe?"

"You might as well entertain her," he sighed. "She won't leave you alone otherwise."

"Okay…" her face scrunched up into concentration. Mei gripped her pen harder. "He made a multifunctional halberd with grappling hooks, a welding device, a flail, some way to teleport it into his hand, an EMP projector, a plasma blade and some things I have no idea how to describe."

Hurriedly, she wrote down _everything_. This was an opportunity that couldn't be missed.

"His helmet had a lie detector and a combat prediction software. Someone he worked with could make armoured suits with a bunch of different functions, advanced robots and more."

Ideas were coming quickly. _How_ could he have done that? How could she copy him?

She barely noticed Power Loader walking past her, grabbing the flight pack and returning it to the girl.

"Hey, Mei?" Taylor interrupted her concentration. She snapped to look at her. "By any chance, do you do commissions?"

Commissions? Her eyes grew wide, and she flipped a page on the notepad. She could feel a smile growing on her face. "Tell me more."

"You see, I need to do something for the upcoming Sports Festival…"

The smile grew wider. She could tell this was going to be the start of a beautiful relationship.

-o-o-o-

"Oh, my God. Kill the zombies! KILL THE ZOMBIES!"

"I'm trying!" Shoji shouted, his six arms punching at three different targets. They were 'Brute' class villains, one of those that were difficult to put down. It was only after a few consecutive punches that Taylor relented and counted them as being defeated, dispersing the butterflies back to the sides.

"Mineta-san! More balls!" Kirishima shouted.

The boy in question sniffed as he plucked another of his grapes from his head, that was now releasing a slow trickle of blood. On the training field there were already balls scattered all around, bodies made of butterflies stuck to them as they advanced no further. He'd been pronounced as the sole functional 'Shaker' of the team, one that could alter the battlefield. Jirou could technically be counted as one, but her quirk was a lot more direct.

"Come on guys! You can do it!" Izuku shouted from the side-lines. He had initially been considered for the exercise, but upon learning just how the state of his quirk was currently, Taylor had instead set him up for simple combat exercises against a butterfly clone. Under no circumstances was he to use his quirk until he could come up with a method that didn't end with broken bones.

This was the first time that Taylor had allowed class 1-A to participate in her training exercise, on the second week since she'd joined up as one of their coursemates. She'd set up some strict restrictions on who could participate, namely those who wouldn't immediately lay waste to her bugs. That meant that Mina, Kaminari, Bakugou and Todoroki were immediately disallowed from the exercise.

Mina had complained, even tried to convince Taylor that her acid was harmless with a demonstration, but the bugs had died moments after using even her most dilute acid. Currently, she was watching sulkily while Kirishima and the rest were fighting a life-or-death battle against the endless horde.

Taylor had said that there was a huge imbalance of 'Brutes' in their class, and it certainly showed in the exercise. Kirishima, Shoji and Tsuyu were picking off bodies that came close to the square they'd been designated to defend, while Jirou and Yaoyorozu struck at targets from afar. Mineta was using his sticky balls to slow down their advance. He wasn't even really a Shaker, just using his quirk like one.

"WHAT'S THE TIME NOW?" Kirishima shouted, panting as he hardened his body yet again to fend off another Brute.

"You have another four minutes before I start adding giants into the mix," Taylor said calmly.

…they'd only been at it for sixteen minutes? "That's such bullshit!" he shouted.

"You're the one who wanted to, I quote, 'play Endless Horde Mode'," she replied.

Needless to say, he was beginning to regret that decision.

He'd heard that class 1-B had already moved on to other versions of this exercise. Videos had been circulating of them making their way through buildings, getting ambushed by butterflies that came out of walls to form bodies, being trapped by webs shot from spiders in blind corners and an actual honest to God fifty-feet tall boss monster composed entirely of butterflies.

"SHAKER!" Izuku shouted from where he was sitting. He had wanted to tag along even if he couldn't physically participate, probably coming up with optimal ways of carrying out the exercise.

Kirishima turned. Sure enough, one of those annoying enemy types was placing his hands just in the periphery. Shoji's movements were becoming slowed down by a hand slowly reaching at his foot. Kirishima knew that it was nowhere near what Taylor was capable of when she'd actually tried, having been able to use that power to restrain the villain at USJ by repeatedly making new hands.

"Yaoyorozu-san!" Kirishima ordered, then crossed the square to cut off one of the variants Taylor had called a 'Mover' while it was approaching Mineta.

"On it!" the girl replied. She aimed her cannon, created yet another cannonball, and fired.

It struck home. The butterflies dispersed, and the actively moving hand around Shoji's foot retreated back into the ground.

She was being more lenient with them than 1-B, but Taylor had assured them that it was because working with physical fighters like them was harder. The training wasn't as effective since the butterfly villains weren't really physically tough, just simulating villain movements. All it did was try to encourage them to come up with a plan and to work with each other's quirks.

That didn't mean it wasn't fun, though. Kirishima was having the time of his life.

"Breaker approaching!" Jirou called out, already swinging her earphones in a particular direction. With her quirk, she had easily become the most versatile member of their current team, able to use it to call out movements and to scatter enemies.

She fired a burst of sonic waves, and the butterflies crawling around the ground stopped moving. Tsuyu leapt onto the butterflies, and Taylor counted that as a successful kill, sending them back to the start.

Kirishima looked around for new targets. Jirou was keeping them at bay by diverting her quirk into the ground, destroying most of the common quirkless variants. Yaoyorozu was on priority target duty, using her limited fat stockpiles to destroy the more dangerous Shakers. She needed to preserve her energy; once the giants arrived she was the only one who could realistically stop them.

"Mineta-san! MORE BALLS!" he ordered again.

"I DON'T HAVE ANY MORE!" he shouted. Kirishima turned. True enough, his head was completely barren, streaks of blood falling down the sides of his face. It was kind of manly.

Maybe Kirishima had been too hard on Mineta. There _were_ a lot of his sticky grapes already placed on the field. The targets that were captured were considered immobilised, and wouldn't be sent back to the start to make new bodies. It saved the rest of them some energy.

"Okay. Take a break, Mineta-san. Good job!" he encouraged. Sniffling, the boy sat down within the square, catching his breath and applying pressure to his head.

"Come on, guys! Just a while longer and you'll hit the giants!" Izuku cheered.

"Yaoyorozu-san, how are you doing?" Kirishima questioned while punching at another body that slipped past Jirou and Mineta's quirks.

"I've got some energy supplies left, but I'm going to be running out within a few minutes at this rate," she huffed.

"Do your best. Tsuyu-chan, how're you faring?"

She croaked, using her tongue to sweep across several weaker butterfly zombies. "I can keep going, but they're breaching our defences faster and faster. At this rate, we're going to be overrun."

At that point, Taylor rang a bell. Finally! Twenty minutes! That, of course, meant that giants were coming.

Sure enough, a few bodies at the edge converged together, forming two of the giants, moving quickly toward them. Yaoyorozu reacted instantly, firing a cannon at one. When Taylor didn't make it disperse, she fired a second time, and a third.

It was only then that she counted that as a kill, sending them back to the start.

It soaked up a lot of their team's energy, though. Already, Shoji was forced to retreat slightly in order to avoid being caught by three of the Brutes at once that would otherwise signify a defeat. Kirishima found himself backing away from a Mover carrying a Brute on his 'back', when he found himself held in place.

"SHAKER!" Izuku called out helpfully.

It was too little, too late. Yaoyorozu aimed her cannon, sending a projectile flying toward it, but Kirishima had already been descended upon by five zombies while immobilised.

"Kirishima has been defeated," Taylor said. "Please exit the training square."

The hand grabbing at his leg sunk back into the ground, and he limped his way over to where Taylor was still watching the rest get pushed in.

"You did pretty well, all things considered," she said.

"We still lost to 1-B. That's not very manly," he replied glumly. He'd seen them in action just last week when Taylor had first increased the difficulty of the exercise. They had performed remarkably, only falling once she went into what the other students were beginning to call the 'berserk phase'.

She shrugged. "They've got Shakers and Masters, you've got Brutes. You can't really compare the exercises. In one of the other environments, you could probably beat them handily."

"What do you mean?" he asked, as Mineta got taken out while desperately trying to crawl away from a mock-villain.

"Inside buildings you get to fight in close quarters. You Brutes could probably react better to ambushes, seeing as you don't really need to set up your quirks beforehand. You should see how Kinoko reacted when I had a bunch of spiders fall on her head when the group crossed the door. Just a second," she called for a pause. Then she said more loudly, "Mineta has been defeated. Please exit the training square."

Things were looking bleak for them. Shoji was standing back to back with Jirou, while Tsuyu was protecting Yaoyorozu. The bodies were already inside the square.

Kirishima counted down. Five, four, three, two, one –

"Time's up," Taylor declared, scattering the butterflies. Bodies were strewn across the floor, those that were trampled by attacks or otherwise destroyed by cannonballs. A very small number compared to how many there were in Taylor's stockpile, but it was still kind of disturbing.

"Mina, if you would please help?" she asked. The still-sulking girl walked over, then released a stream of acid that dissolved the bodies. "Thank you."

"You better find an exercise that I can take part in," she said.

"I'll try my best, but no promises," Taylor replied.

The other students were making their way over now, Izuku joining alongside them.

"That was amazing, guys! You worked so well together!" Izuku cheered for them.

"Thanks, Midoriya-san." Kirishima smiled at the boy. He was simply way too nice. It was a pity that his quirk had such destructive tendencies.

"Okay, team. What did you all learn today?"

"…I hate my life?" Mineta suggested, a single ball having returned since the end of the exercise.

"Excellent answer. Anyone else?"

Was that _sarcasm_? Since when did Taylor engage in sarcasm? Time for him to return it in equal measure.

"We're not manly enough?"

"Also an excellent answer. More?"

It was official, Kirishima mentally declared. Taylor liked them.

He had been watching her as they passed each other around school. She was mostly aloof, hiding away from other schoolmates, but Tokage from class 1-B had stuck to her and dragged along the six that she'd chosen as pioneers of the training exercise. It was only with those six that Kirishima had _ever_ seen Taylor joke and laugh.

"I need to preserve energy for my quirk," Yaoyorozu considered.

"True, but given the circumstances your team didn't really have any other ranged option. Maybe next time I'll waive Tsuyu's defeat conditions and let her freely move and hit targets."

"How would you have done the exercise in their shoes, Taylor-san?" Izuku asked politely.

"I don't really know. The exercise isn't exactly fair for them. Maybe make use of Tsuyu's speed a bit more to pick off Shakers and high-value targets, if she's able to avoid getting swarmed. Then again, I'm not a Brute, so I can't really speak about good tactics for your team composition. Given my request for Yaoyorozu to avoid anything that could kill my bugs en masse, I think you guys did really well. You adapted, came up with a plan and cooperated. That's all that I could ask for, really."

"Thanks, Taylor-san," Mineta smiled. For some reason, Taylor was the only girl that Mineta's lecherous side didn't act on. Whether it was respect, fear, a lack of curves on her part or something else, Kirishima didn't know.

"Alright, guys. You should get going. It's the last lesson for the day, right?"

"Yup!" he nodded. Then, curiosity struck him. "What about you, Taylor-san? Don't you need to go home too?"

"I live in the school," she said. "Nezu's got some guest rooms set up for me."

Ah, that explained things. He had wondered how someone who travelled from another dimension would settle down on their Earth.

"Hey, Taylor-chan? Would you want to go out with us sometime?" Tsuyu asked.

She froze for a moment. "Maybe. Not right now, though. I'm supposed to meet with the others from 1-B. Up till now, I haven't actually been out of the school yet."

"What?" Kirishima burst out. "You mean you've been stuck in school for _two weeks?_"

"I've been busy," she said. "The teachers want me to plan some stuff out for the Sports Festival. No, I can't tell you guys what I'm doing."

Izuku had been about to ask about what the Festival entailed. The question died on his lips before it even formed.

"Anyway, you all should go home and get prepared. The Festival is coming on Monday, and you need to rest for it."

"Couldn't we join you and those from 1-B?" Kirishima asked.

She hesitated again. "Sorry, but I'd rather just go with them, for now. I promise I'll find some time for you guys soon."

Ah. So she didn't like them _that_ much yet, then. Kirishima felt just a little jealous. No matter, they had much more time ahead of them.

"Okay, _ribbit._ Enjoy your time with your classmates!" Tsuyu smiled at her.

"Thanks. Anyway, get a move on already. See you guys on Monday."

With that, she broke away from the group, heading back toward the school. Kirishima turned to look at the others.

"Are you guys jealous too?"

"Just a little bit," Tsuyu confessed. "She's a lot closer with those from 1-B. She's such a nice person, but sometimes I don't understand why she can be so cold, you know?"

"I- I'm sure Taylor-san will find the time to meet up with us sometime, guys!" Izuku said.

"Maybe. Anyway, we should make a move too. See you on Monday, guys!"

Kirishima waved at them, then set off toward the school entrance. With that, the group dispersed, some walking toward the entrance while others made their way to the lockers and classrooms to retrieve their bags.

-o-o-o-

Tokage Setsuna spotted Taylor walking along the street. She waved enthusiastically. "Over here, Taylor-chan!"

The girl moved over, joining the other six students by the table in the restaurant. "I know. I felt your presence with my bugs."

"You mean I _still_ have bugs on my body?" Kinoko's face twisted into a scowl.

"Just two. Almost everyone has bugs, you know."

"I really didn't need to know that, thank you very much. Mushrooms are much cuter." Kinoko had opened up a lot with them. Turns out, the girl really wasn't shy at all. Now that they'd worked together for Taylor's exercises, the girl just wouldn't shut up about mushrooms.

"Anyway, Taylor-chan! How was teaching with 1-A?" Setsuna questioned.

She shrugged. "Different. The exercise doesn't work well with their quirks. I might have to move them straight to what you guys are doing right now, search and rescue, urban operations and similar types of missions."

Ah, _those_ exercises. In the two weeks of classes since Taylor arrived, they've managed to carry out five training sessions under her, including the initial one that started it all. Infiltration, rescue and holdout exercises were some of her favourites.

She doubted Kinoko appreciated the fact that Taylor began adding in more types of bugs, though. The first time that she'd been webbed, she had screamed and instinctively grew mushrooms all around her, trapping herself in a doorway.

With the support of the other teachers, Taylor's exercises had taken on a more structured approach. There were now cameras and recording devices, voice-communication systems and other equipment used in actual hero work.

It did, of course, mean that their reactions were captured and preserved for posterity.

"We're doing better than 1-A, then?" Monoma asked smugly. He still hadn't completely gotten over his rivalry with 1-A. There was an improvement, but now he was proudly proclaiming to them that Taylor liked her class more than theirs.

"Like I said, your classes are different. What's with you and 1-A, anyway?"

"Just ignore him, Taylor-san. Monoma-san is just being foolish," Itsuka told her, shooting a warning look at Monoma. Setsuna smiled. Itsuka had taken on the responsibility of curbing some of Monoma's more questionable attitudes.

"Alright. How are you guys feeling about the Festival?" Taylor asked.

Oh, hoho. Straight to the point then?

"You _still_ can't tell us what they're going to do for the events?" Setsuna probed. "Just a tiny little hint?"

"Sorry, but no. It wouldn't be fair, and the other teachers want to keep it a complete surprise, anyway. All I can say is expect something different from previous years." She didn't look apologetic at all. Then again, Setsuna didn't really expect anything different.

"Do you have any advise for us, Taylor? I know you think we're doing fine in the exercises, but this is going to be different, right?" Pony asked.

Taylor gave them all a look of consideration. Setsuna sat up straighter. When she was in this mood, it usually meant that she was about to say something incredibly useful, not that Taylor actually knew just how much it helped them.

"Play to your strengths. I've seen you all work together in classes, and you're progressing along really nicely. You can't beat the likes of Todoroki or Bakugou from 1-A in a direct fight, but you don't need to. Exploit how the events work. Cheat, if you have to. Fight smart. Abuse the system and your enemies' weaknesses. Don't play fair, because I can assure you _no one_ does."

"…were you really supposed to tell us all that?" Setsuna asked.

She snorted. "Probably not. I'm sure the other senseis would want me to extol the virtues of fair play, chivalry, and the merits of an open fight. Unless you have a straight up ridiculously imbalanced power, I can assure you no one thinks like that."

"That sounds quite unjust," Ibara frowned.

"Welcome to the real world."

"You're corrupting Ibara-chan, Taylor-chan!" Setsuna whined.

"What do you mean by our strengths, Taylor-san?" Monoma brought the conversation back on topic.

"You tell me," she said, sitting back into her seat. This was just like one of their post-exercise reflections and after-action reports, something that was becoming increasingly familiar to Setsuna.

"Umm…" Monoma thought about the issue. "You said we have a lot more Masters and Shakers than 1-A, and we're better at fighting from afar."

"That's one part of it, yes. But what is it that's unique to the six of you?"

"We fight really well together!" Kinoko chirped.

"Anything else?"

"Taylor-chan likes us more!" Setsuna couldn't resist poking fun at her.

"You're making me reconsider that. Itsuka?"

"We've done more of your training exercises?" she suggested hesitantly. It was true; out of everyone in 1-B, they had been the focus group for testing of Taylor's training methods, mostly because their quirks fit well with Taylor's experiences.

"Close. Think about your team composition. Why did I specifically pick the six of you?"

They looked at each other. What was Taylor driving at? She said they'd been picked because she and Pony worked a little like her bug control, Kinoko and Ibara could modify the battlefield, Itsuka could protect them when it came to it, and Monoma could pick up the slack…

It hit her. "We can adapt to scenarios."

"Very good," she nodded, giving a small smile. "You guys don't hit hard, don't have flashy quirks, don't really shine in any particular scenario. But you've all excelled at my exercises, even things as different as rescue work and target elimination. Your quirks are extremely versatile. Think about the events on Monday, come up with a plan and work together. Just remember, the ability to work as a team is in itself something Pro Heroes look for."

Pony was looking at Taylor with awe, rapidly nodding her head.

It was, of course, at that moment that the food arrived. Rather unfortunate timing.

The group fell silent as they dug in. Setsuna was still considering her words while gobbling up mouthfuls of food.

"Say, Taylor-chan, what are you going to be doing at the Festival anyway?" Setsuna asked what had been bothering her for the week. It didn't seem fair that she wouldn't be allowed to participate in the Sports Festival.

She sighed, temporarily putting a halt to eating. "I was going to ask you guys later, but I suppose now is as good a time as any. It took some time to confirm it, but I'll be doing a small showcase of a training exercise after the main events. I'd like for you guys to be the ones taking part in it."

Kinoko choked. On a mushroom, funnily enough. She coughed several times, before managing to find words. "You want us to do one of your crazy missions in front of everyone else?"

"If you guys don't mind, yeah. I've been running through some ideas with the other teachers and seeing if they approve, but if you don't feel up to it –"

"We'll do it," Setsuna cut her off. A chance to take part in one of Taylor's insane training exercises in front of everyone else? And from the looks of it, one that she'd been planning a long time for?

Setsuna wouldn't miss it for anything in the world. Looking around, it seemed like the rest were thinking along the same lines.

"What kind of exercise is it?" Ibara asked warily. "Nothing… _devious_, I hope?"

"It's a secret for now, but it'll be similar to what you've been doing. A little longer, maybe, with some additional equipment, but it shouldn't be too different at all. You'll do fine, I think."

"So you _do_ love us more than 1-A!" Monoma declared. "I knew it!"

Taylor ignored him. Smart girl, she was learning.

Once again, they continued eating. In no time, the food was gone.

Subtly, she looked at her other classmates, exchanging a very small nod. Plan 'Make Taylor Open Up' was a go. Setsuna was going to begin.

"You do know my bugs can feel you doing that, right?"

She didn't know that, but the plan was still going ahead.

"So Taylor-chan, tell us a bit about yourself!" Setsuna said cheerfully.

There was a very slight flicker of emotion that she'd almost missed, but it was there. "What do you mean?"

"It's been two weeks, but you haven't told us anything! Your likes, dislikes, hobbies, family! Do you have a boyfriend? I bet you do, you sly girl! Tell us all about him!"

In their short time together, Setsuna had noted that the best way of catching Taylor off-guard was to stick to her and bombard her with questions. In the beginning, it was the only way that she would actually respond to conversation.

"Why does this even matter?" she asked irritably. "Shouldn't you be thinking about the Festival?"

"You're our friend, Taylor-chan, and friends know everything about each other!" she grinned.

"I'm quite sure they don't."

"Well, in this world, they do!" Setsuna protested indignantly. "What about your old friends? You had a team before, right? You mentioned that during a training exercise."

For a moment, Setsuna feared she pushed too far. Her eyes had turned cold and calculating, looking directly at her, studying her face. She remembered belatedly that Taylor was a stranger to their world, stranded from her own. Stupid, she shouldn't have brought up her friends!

She was about to apologise, but Taylor's expression shifted. She looked down, giving a small smile.

"The Undersiders."

Again, Setsuna looked at her classmates. They looked equally bewildered and unsure.

"The Undersiders," she repeated, now looking at Setsuna. There were no tears, but Setsuna thought she could perhaps just see the slightest glistening of her eyes. Or was that a trick of the light?

"My old team, from when I was a villain, and the best friends I ever had."

"Tell us about them?" Pony asked softly.

Taylor let out a sigh, looking at something far away for a long moment. "I won't tell you guys everything, but we were all screw-ups, in a sense. Tattletale, Bitch, Grue, Regent, Imp and myself. Skitter."

"What do you mean?" Monoma questioned.

She shook her head. "A story for another time."

Monoma was going to press on, but Setsuna shot him a look, shaking her head. Then, she turned to Taylor. "Right then! This means we're officially friends now, Taylor-chan!"

She sighed deeply in exasperation. "I'm guessing you'll never leave me alone if I refuse to acknowledge that fact?"

"Yup!" Taylor sure learned fast. Setsuna could be _very_ persistent.

Taylor closed her eyes, rubbing at her temple. "Fine then, if that makes you happy. Sure. Just please respect me enough to keep my secrets."

"Of course!" Ibara affirmed, offended. "We're all virtuous and righteous spirits who will never betray the trust of our friends!"

"What Ibara-chan means it that we won't divulge anything you don't want us to, Taylor-chan!" Setsuna said. Then, she tried her luck. "Any chance that you'd be willing to go for a hug?"

"No."

"Meh. Was worth a try." Setsuna shrugged.

Taylor buried her face into her remaining hand, propped up on the table. "You're just like Imp, except less creepy but more annoying."

That was a good thing, right? Imp was one of her 'Undersiders'?

"Alright, Taylor-chan! I've decided! We're going to be your new favourite team in the world!"

"Whatever floats your boat. Just please stop bugging me."

"Was that a pun? I bet it was! Who knew you'd have such a humourous side to you, Taylor-chan?" Setsuna continued pestering her, not letting up a bit. In time, she knew that Taylor would open up.

The rest of the dinner passed by quickly. With that, they parted, Taylor returning to the school.

The weekend came and went. Soon, Monday arrived, and with it the Sports Festival.

* * *

**Very short chapter. Hopefully Taylor doesn't seem to be too out of character in this.**

**Next chapter will be the Sports Festival. I'm not sure if it's going to be a huge flop, but hopefully it won't be too bad.**


	7. The First Event

**Another update! You can probably tell I don't have much of a life after exams.**

**Hopefully this doesn't go too badly. It's a little rough around the edges with some arbitrary hand-waving around the rules, but I hope it's enjoyable regardless. Also a little bit short, but there's already bits in canon of the powerhouses blowing up robots. I didn't want to bore you too much by describing everything happening.**

* * *

**Chapter 7: The First Event**

I made my way up to the commentator's desk where Hizashi and Aizawa were already in place at. Already, the stands at the stadium where the festival would begin proper were slowly being filled by spectators.

"Nervous?" Hizashi asked.

"Not really," I shrugged. "I'm not the one competing. Either this event works as intended and gives everyone an equal chance, or it doesn't. Either way, the public would probably still pay attention to the people with flashy quirks."

"That's one way of looking at it," Aizawa commented.

"The Pro Heroes are the ones that really matter here, I think. The serious ones will know what we're planning with this event, and hopefully they'll see just how versatile some of the quirks of the students are."

I had spent the better part of the previous week working together with the teachers to come up with the first two events of the festival. We'd brainstormed, worked out the logistics of the events and the resources available to us, and finally pieced together something that could work.

I had modelled it a little after some of the larger scale battles I'd fought in during my time in Earth Bet, not that I informed the teachers of such. A little bit of Endbringer rescue, the first battle against the Nine, the simultaneous attacks by the Slaughterhouse Nine-thousand, and more. It was going to be a grand event, one that lasted longer than the normal obstacle race.

There were going to be points awarded for students, just like in the entrance exam, except that there was a much broader scope of methods through which they could be earned. Search and rescue, target elimination, target capture, defence, infiltration and more. The scenario was complicated, far beyond what previous Festivals had envisioned. As such, we decided that the first two events would run under similar scenarios to ease the logistics of the Festival. Because of the sheer scope of what we were planning, we'd decided to hold it in an area spanning several training grounds with urban and rural environments.

The initial bit would run for forty-five minutes, with less demanding objectives and lesser competition between students. Following that, the scenario would be briefly paused, and the top fifty students would be allowed to proceed to the next phase. At that point, we would switch it around slightly, make new changes that altered the playing field while keeping the core idea intact, so as to test the students' abilities to adapt and come up with new ideas on the fly. Nezu had taken charge of that bit of the event, leaving me unaware as to exactly how it would be run, but he had assured me it would be _interesting_. To keep the following tournament exciting, there would be a twist to the rules and scoring system that changed how points were awarded.

Thankfully, Nezu had contacts with rescue training companies. Apparently, that was a real thing in this world, providing actors that would act as civilians caught in the midst of a villain attack. Villains were represented by robots, all of which packed some serious firepower. Ectoplasm had offered several of his clones to represent capture targets to allow students with capture-based quirks to have a time in the spotlight. Cementoss and I had modified the training grounds, creating debris impeding rescue work.

The scoring system had taken some time to work through. We couldn't simply allow for the students to cooperatively carry out tasks, after all, but we still needed a way to reward those that worked well together. In the end, we settled for awarding takedown and capture points individually, rescue points depending on contribution, and area defense points were shared. Hopefully, it would allow anyone a decent chance of making it to the second stage.

Through my power, I was monitoring the movements of students around the school. They were assembled in their classes, waiting for the go-ahead for the opening ceremony to begin. I recognised Setsuna – apparently a self-proclaimed friend – chatting happily with some of my other classmates that I hadn't had the chance to properly talk to, lacking any indication of nervousness. In contrast, Izuku seemed to be having a serious conversation with All Might, but I respected them both enough not to eavesdrop on their conversation. Besides, a gathering of bugs around them would surely be noticed.

"You look deep in thought, Taylor-san," Hizashi noted. "Lighten up! Live a little! Breathe in the atmosphere! Soon you'll see what Present Mic is all about!"

"Remember, if you even so much as say the word 'Zombie', I'm going to send bugs into your food for the next few weeks." It was funny how I'd chanced upon his slight fear of insects during one of our discussions. It was nowhere close to the extent of Koda's phobia, but it made for an effective threat nonetheless.

"You wouldn't!" he gasped jokingly.

I didn't respond. Hopefully, he would keep the threat in mind.

"How much longer?" I asked Aizawa instead.

"Should be any moment now. Nemuri-san will be sending the first group in soon."

I sensed movement through my bugs. Sure enough, the classes were making their way down the corridors leading to the stadium.

"Yeah. They're moving."

"It's really creepy that you can track people with your bugs," Hizashi complained. I shot him a look. "Just saying."

Idly, I looked over the scripts and rulesets for the upcoming events, mentally rehearsing them again. As someone being roped in onto the commentary team, I had to familiarise myself with the final revisions we'd made to the event.

It took a few minutes for the students to become assembled. When they finally settled down, Nemuri stepped up onto a platform to address the students and the crowd.

"Alright, students! Now that you're all _well behaved_ and _fired up_, let's begin the UA Sports Festival with the athlete's oath! Representing the first year classes will be Bakugou Katsuki from class 1-A, who placed highest in the hero course entrance exams!"

Seriously? I looked at Aizawa. "Did you really think this was going to be a good idea?"

He shrugged, seemingly uncaring. "He _did_ place highest. It should be entertaining, at least."

And it was. His speech consisted of a single line, proclaiming his declaration of taking first place. It was simple, direct and effective, leaving the crowd silent for a moment.

Then came the jeers.

"Alright, alright!" Nemuri shouted into the microphone. "Settle down, everybody! For this year, we've decided to switch up the events a little! Without further ado, I'll let Present Mic and the commentary team take charge of explaining how the event will work!"

"WHAT'S UP, DEAR LISTENERS!" Hizashi practically screamed into the microphone. So _that's_ what he meant by demonstrating what Present Mic was about. "TODAY ALL OF YOU ARE IN FOR A TREAT! THE FIRST EVENT WILL BE ON A SCALE NEVER BEFORE SEEN IN UA!"

There were scattered murmurs among the audience and assembled students. Hizashi pressed on, regardless. "Joining me here on the desk are my fellow commentators and organisers of this event! Most of you already know Aizawa Shouta, one of our most esteemed teachers in UA! Now, for the first time ever, we are joined by a teaching assistant, Taylor Hebert of class 1-B!"

I saw as some of the spectators turned to face me, no doubt wondering why a first year was a teaching assistant. Down below, I could very distinctively hear Setsuna shouting. "WOO! GO TAYLOR-CHAN!"

I gave her a quick glance, which she very enthusiastically returned with a wave, Itsuka and Kinoko by her side. In the adjacent class, Izuku and those that I'd finally carried out a training exercise for waved at me as well.

"Today's events have mostly been planned by Taylor-san, and boy are you listeners in for a treat! Today, every one of you students have the chance to proceed on to the next set of events! So listen up and listen well, because this briefing will be important for your performance!"

Power Loader had very helpfully put together an infographic presentation that was now being displayed on the large stadium monitors. Aizawa began the explanation.

"Today's first two events will be based around the same scenario, but will be very different in execution. The premise for the event is that a city and its neighbouring area have been attacked by two different villainous groups, leaving destruction in their wake."

The presentation moved to highlight the map of the playing field. "This first task will span Training Grounds Beta and Gamma and the areas in between. Ground Beta has already been destroyed by villains, with scattered pockets of them defending the area. Civilians are trapped in buildings, blocked by rubble, or otherwise captured by villains. Ground Gamma is under siege by another villain group, employing robots to attack the industrial area and its surroundings. Robots roam the surrounding fields, destroying everything in their path. The villains controlling these robots are hidden away in areas within Ground Gamma and pockets between the two training grounds."

He shifted a few pieces of paper, as the infographic detailing the points system appeared. "Students may choose different ways to earn points. Points are awarded individually for destruction of robots, depending on their quality. Tier one robots are worth one point, tier two three points, tier three five points, and the large tier four robots are worth twenty points a piece."

They corresponded to the one-pointers, two-pointers, three-pointers and zero-pointers used in the entrance exam. I still had no idea how Nezu was able to spend that much money replacing them every time they were used as part of school events.

"Points can also be obtained by rescuing civilians. This may be done by locating trapped civilians, removing debris, escorting them, providing aid, or taking out villains holding them hostage. A successful rescue is worth a minimum of five points, with more depending on the effort required. Importantly, this can be done cooperatively, and points will be discretionarily awarded by our panel of judges depending on how much has been contributed."

He looked toward me. Right, I was supposed to explain some of it too. Hastily, I spoke into the microphone.

"Capture points can be awarded individually by successfully capturing enemy villains controlling the robots attacking Ground Gamma. This can be done by use of a capture tape or other equipment, the use of quirks, or any other method you can think of. The enemy villain must not be harmed beyond surface injuries. Failure to do so would result in a lower amount of points awarded. Alternatively, information can be retrieved in the form of datapads found in hideouts manned by these villains. For the successful tracking of one of these villains, three points will be awarded, a further seven on capture, retrieval of information is worth three points and another three if the captured villain is brought to a Capture Checkpoint."

On the screen, the locations of said checkpoints were being demarcated. "You can recognise these villains as clones of Ectoplasm-sensei or actors wearing a red armband. I stress again – do _not_ cause unnecessary injuries."

Not just because it would be a pain for Nezu to deal with injured actors, I also wanted those with more destructive quirks to stay away from obtaining points through this method. This was supposed to allow those with more utility-based quirks to have a chance to showcase their talents.

"Next, you can obtain points by defending Training Ground Gamma. Regular attacks will be staged on predetermined locations. You will not only be required to defeat incoming villain robots, but also ensure that the surrounding city is not damaged. Points will be deducted for collateral damage dealt to buildings or excessive damage to the landscape of the training ground. Each attack can last five to ten minutes, with points being awarded depending on the number and type of attacking robots and duration held."

I paused, giving some time for the students and audience to take in that chunk of information. "A full five-minute defence without collateral damage is worth beginning from twenty points each depending on difficulty. The total amount that the defeated robots are worth is then divided between the group. To promote cooperative play, points are awarded based on participation and a discretionary cooperation score. You are _not_ allowed to stand around and let others do the work or otherwise interfere with other teams. Doing so will result in a penalty."

I nodded at Present Mic, giving him the chance to talk again. "ALL RIGHT, LISTENERS! No doubt that that's a lot of information to take in, but do not worry! Taylor-san foresaw this, and has requested for the support department to build a communications armband that you can ask explanations from! In addition, there is a map of the area displayed on the screen of the armband, displaying attack locations and more information as the event plays out!"

Then, he paused for a moment, and coughed into the microphone. "I am required to inform you that this device was the brainchild of Taylor-san and built by Hatsume Mei of the support course. Please send all relevant business enquiries to Hatsume Mei if interested."

I smiled. That girl was just like every Tinker I'd seen on Earth Bet, even if her quirk wasn't the source of her ideas. She'd taken my ideas of the Dragon's armbands used during Endbringer attacks and come up with something in the short time frame I'd given her, not to mention the other devices I had requested for. She really was something else.

"ALRIGHT!" he recovered. "Student representatives, please come up to Midnight-sensei and collect a box of armbands and capture tapes to be distributed to your class! Each member will receive one of each piece of equipment!"

I took the chance to observe the students. Many were confused, as expected, but even the students from other courses seemed excited. Most would probably go off to help in the rescue efforts, seeing as they weren't really going to be useful in the combat-heavy aspects, but that would also test the ability of students aiming for rescue points to delegate manpower. I was interested in seeing how that turned out.

"STUDENTS! You have five minutes to discuss among yourselves and plan where you want to begin. Choose well and choose smart! After that, there will be a fifteen-minute intermission while you are led to your starting locations. Remember, this event will last for forty-five minutes. The top fifty students will advance to the next round! PLUS ULTRA!"

"PLUS ULTRA!" students and spectators echoed. At least the plan seemed alright so far.

Hizashi turned off the feed to the microphone. "That went well," he said.

"They weren't as confused as I thought they would be. Are all the actors and staff in place already?"

Aizawa nodded. "Everyone is in position."

"Good," I said, taking a look down below. Setsuna, Pony, Itsuko, Ibara, Kinoko and Neito were grouping up together, just as I'd expected. They would probably go for the area defence method of scoring points, given their experience in my classes. Nearby, other classmates were discussing between themselves.

Over in 1-A, I noted Izuku, Ochako, Shoji and Jirou grouping up together. More than likely the four of them would head off for Ground Beta. Not a bad idea, they had a fairly well balanced team for rescue work. Tsuyu, Mineta, Sero and Toru were already at the station where they'd be taken to capture checkpoints, a sound decision given their quirks. I didn't know where the rest would go, but more than likely they'd be heading for defence or simply picking off robots, depending on how well they could control collateral damage with their quirks. As for the other classes, I didn't have enough information regarding their students.

"Might as well take a break for now, they'll take some time to get in position," Hizashi yawned, stretching his arms out.

I leaned back into my chair, idly ordering some bugs around. Hopefully my new friends would do alright at this.

-o-o-o-

Midoriya Izuku walked alongside Shoji, Uraraka and Jirou as they were led toward Training Ground Beta. They were by far the largest group, with most members of the General Education, Management and Support courses following them. They didn't really have much else to do, after all.

It was only when they'd been left at the entrance to the training ground that Izuku realised just how much damage had been dealt. Walls had been broken down, entire buildings destroyed and wrecked, streets flooded and blocked by debris. This was going to be a lot harder than he initially thought!

The official they'd been following looked to his watch, then pressed a communicator on his ear. After a few moments, he nodded, then announced to the students, "Alright, we're here a bit early. You have two minutes before we begin proper."

Izuku looked at his classmates. "Anyone have any ideas?"

Uraraka was still staring disbelievingly at the destruction. "We're supposed to go past _that_?"

"We've got Jirou-san's quirk to help minimise the amount of work we need to do in finding civilians," he reassured her, looking at Jirou for confirmation. "With your quirk and Shoji-san's, we'll be able to move debris along."

She still looked nervous, while Shoji was the image of calm.

He took a look around. The other students are all idly standing around, chatting happily to one another. Were they not worried about the task? Or did they just not care about the Sports Festival?

"Let's come up with a plan. Jirou-san, could you use your quirk to locate trapped civilians? Shoji-san and I can move some of the small debris, while the Uraraka-san can handle the heavier ones. We can't overwork her quirk too early on," Izuku proposed.

"Sounds good to me," Jirou agreed, twirling her earlobes. "I can already hear some of them moving around in the rubble."

"You'll direct us, then. We can use the communicator to talk to each other, if needed." They had been given some brief instructions on how to use it.

She nodded, then pressed a button on her armband. "Testing. Send message to Midoriya Izuku."

Izuku's own armband chimed and lit up, followed quickly by a message. "Testing," came Jirou's voice. He flashed her a thumb's up.

"Alright, time's up. Go!"

With that, they rushed to enter the gate.

"Civilians trapped inside that building, second floor, some rubble in that way. Another one blocked just behind here," she pointed out.

Shoji went into the building, shoving aside fallen beams and other miscellaneous debris. Izuku continued on, moving with Jirou and Uraraka. There was a large slab of concrete blocking their path where Jirou had said the civilian was.

Izuku tried to move it, but it didn't budge at all. He _could_ try to use One for All, but was it worth the risk? Wouldn't he be crippled for the rest of the task? "Uraraka-san, can you move this one?"

She nodded, placing her hand on the concrete. Slowly, it rose, just enough for Izuku to rush in.

"Hurry! It's really heavy!"

There was someone cowering over in the corner between two buildings. On the side opposite from where Izuku approached there was a second roadblock keeping him trapped. "Don't worry, sir! We're here!"

The actor sniffed, drying some tears from his eyes. Wow, they were really good actors!

"T-Thank you," he said, limping slowly toward Izuku. Izuku supported his weight, moving as quickly as he could while being careful not to injure the actor.

The moment he crossed the threshold of the concrete, Uraraka released her quirk, doubling over, face slightly green. That wasn't good; they'd just barely started!

"Jirou-san, where to next?" Izuku asked.

"There's a few more over in that direction, but are you okay to continue, Uraraka-san?"

She looked a little ill, but she managed to push herself to stand. "I can keep going!"

"Okay, but don't push yourself," Jirou warned.

This really wasn't sustainable. There had to be some other way.

He looked around. Shoji was just returning with another actor, letting him make his way toward the exit. The other students were still languishing about, joking with one another. A few were seriously trying to engage with the task, but making very slow progress moving blindly around.

Izuku had an idea. He wasn't sure whether it would work, but an idea nonetheless.

"Hey, keep going on without me for now. I want to try something," he told the rest.

Without waiting for a reply, he walked up to the students from the other classes moving some debris around where Jirou had said no one was trapped.

"Hey!"

Some turned to look at him, eyebrows raised. "You're from the Hero Course, right?"

"Yeah, I'm Midoriya Izuku. What about you guys?"

A round of introductions followed. Right, time to get to the main part. "Want to work together? What are your quirks?"

They looked at each other, shrugged, then turned to face Izuku. "Nothing fancy, really. I can make my hand glow, he has mild telekinesis, and she can jump high."

"How bright can you make it? How much can you lift? How high can you jump?" He asked each in turn. Wordlessly, they demonstrated their quirks.

It wasn't bad. It was about as bright as a street lamp, he could shift small piece of debris around, and she could jump about twice a regular person's height. Alone, those abilities wouldn't be suited for hero work, but here…

"Okay, guys. I think we can work together. Jirou-san there can locate trapped civilians, but we won't have the lighting we need to see where they are if she just points them out. Can you come along with us? Same with you two, we can use the help moving debris or moving over them."

The one he'd been talking to looked amused, shrugged and agreed. Their exchange had caught some attention from the other students standing around bored, waiting for the task to end. "Hey, do you need any more help?"

Izuku looked at them. "We do, but you might not receive that many points if we all work together since it's based on contribution," he said worriedly.

The one who had asked laughed. "We were planning to slack around anyway since our quirks are pretty useless. Might as well do something useful if we're not making it through, right?"

"What are your quirks?"

One by one, they explained their quirks.

A quirk to displace an object two feet, one that gave night-vision, one that stretched his arm to three times its normal length…

There were nine non-hero classes, with most of their students choosing to come to Ground Beta since they couldn't really do the other tasks. Individually, they were near useless, but together?

He led those that were willing to take part in the exercise back to Jirou. "Hey guys! I've brought some people with me!"

Together, they were going to get through this.

-o-o-o-

Setsuna detached her fingers, sending each one at the joints of a tier three robot villain. Curling them around wires, she pulled as hard as she could, and was rewarded with the sound of them snapping as sparks flew from the inner circuitry.

Kinoko's mushrooms were blocking off two of the entry points to the designated location that they had to defend, a giant wall of mushrooms that forced robots to circle around. Ibara covered the remaining two paths, her thick vines creeping over the ground and tripping robots. Spores had been deposited onto the vines, that twisted into the joints of the robots where Kinoko could activate her quirk and grow more mushrooms from within, breaking the robot's circuitry.

Meanwhile, Pony, Setsuna and Monoma had been designated to take out the stronger robots, tier twos and threes that were too heavy to be tripped and restrained by vines. Itsuka took care of the ones closest to them.

"Time remaining for current attack?" Setsuna asked.

"Current time: Eleven minutes, four seconds since start. Current attack will last for another one minute and seventeen seconds," a robotic voice informed her from the armband.

"Keep going, team!" she encouraged.

They were lucky. So far, they'd dealt with one other assault, finding it surprisingly easy to deal with the attacks. It wasn't too much different from Taylor's methods, with the weaker of her mock-villains taken out by the Shakers and stronger ones engaged by the other members of the team. Fortunately, they hadn't come face to face with a tier four robot yet. Those were some serious business.

"Monoma-san! Take over for me, please!" Ibara said.

He nodded, moving over to touch the back of her neck, switching over from Pony's power. It had been something they'd discussed, using Monoma to switch between their quirks if they needed time to recover and if he wasn't already overburdened. Her vines retracted, allowing a few smaller robots to temporarily pass unhindered, but Monoma's own hair quickly grew out to send them sprawling to the ground.

"You doing alright, Monoma-san?" Itsuka asked, tearing an arm off a nearby three-pointer that had made it past Pony and Setsuna.

"I can keep going, don't worry. Focus on the bigger ones!"

"Kinoko-chan, how are you doing on spores?" Setsuna asked.

"I've got more than enough, don't worry! I'll make my mushrooms GROW! MUSHROOMS!" She laughed maniacally, using her quirk to tear apart the wires behind the arm joint of a nearby robot by the sheer pressure of growing mushrooms.

The girl had a serious obsession with mushrooms. Setsuna wondered what she would do in a proper fight against another student.

"Tokage-san!" Pony shouted, pointing behind her. She turned, coming face to face with something she really didn't want to see.

There was one of the tier fours, the zero-pointer that she'd seen Taylor fight against two weeks ago. It was moving toward them, still more than a hundred metres away, but gaining speed. She really shouldn't have tempted fate.

"What do we do?" she asked, sending some fingers moving toward the exposed joints while it was still advancing. Likewise, Pony's horns flew into the joints, repeatedly jabbing in and out. Some of the wires were taken out, but there were a _lot_ of wires.

"This statement is false!" Monoma shouted.

Huh, smart! She'd almost forgotten about Taylor having done that.

The robot continued moving. "PARADOX ISSUE RESOLVED IN PATCH 1.02. HA. HA. HA."

"Damn it!" he swore, looking around. "I've got another plan, but I have no clue if it'll work!"

"Just do it!" Setsuna ordered. Seventy metres away.

"Keep hitting at its joints! Komori-san, grow some mushrooms in its path and slow it down! Shiozaki-san! Get on the left side of the street, I'm taking the right!"

Ibara was moving before he'd even finished, trusting in whatever plan he had. Setsuna hoped it was a good one, because the robot was starting to get uncomfortably close. Fifty metres. Its speed was slowed somewhat by the mushroom field that sprouted into existence.

"Link half of your vines to mine!" he shouted, growing his hair to the middle of the street. Ibara looked confused, but did it anyway.

"Wrap a quarter around anything solid to stabilise yourself. When it gets close, wrap the other quarter around its leg, I'll do the same on my side. Kendou-san, hop onto our vines!"

Wait, this plan –

"You're going to throw me?" Itsuka asked, already enlarging her hands

"Yeah, get on! Hurry!"

It was nearer now. Thirty metres. One arm had been taken out, but the other was aiming right at them. Vines were wrapping around its legs, kept taut.

"I hope you know what you're doing!" Itsuka shouted.

"I don't! Shiozaki-san, on three, launch for its head. Kendou-san, Tokage-san, Pony-san, hit at the same time! Shiozaki-san, when they hit, _pull!_ Komori-san, stack mushrooms! One, two, _three!_"

Itsuka was catapulted out of the hammock of vines. With a battle-cry, Itsuka reared her enlarged hands back, swinging them forward just before she collided with the robot's head. At the same time, Setsuna sent any detached parts of her body she could spare slamming into the very top of the robot's face, while three of Pony's horns were drilling and pushing in the same direction. Itsuka flipped as she bounced off the robot following her attack, grabbed onto the last one of Pony's horns, and was midway being brought back toward them in case they needed a second salvo of the human catapult.

Any of their attacks alone wouldn't have made it budge. But with the restriction placed by the tower of mushrooms growing at its legs, the tension of the vines pulling it in from below while Itsuka, Setsuna and Pony pushed from the top?

The moment of the two forces was sufficient to generate a large enough turning effect that caused the robot to tip over backwards. It was just like how Taylor had defeated that three-pointer back during her demonstration, except now they were up against something far stronger. Unlike her, though, they had quirks with decent physical force.

The vines tugged harder while the robot was already off balance, signing its death warrant. It fell over, hard, the force of its own weight sending its head flying off. Behind it, a few of the advancing robots were crushed by their giant brethren, a bonus as far as Setsuna was concerned.

"Monoma-san, did I ever tell you that you're a genius?" Setsuna said, sending her separated parts back to join her head. Itsuka let go of Pony's floating horn, moving to stand beside Monoma who was panting slightly, retracting the hair he had grown from Ibara's quirk.

"Continue telling me that, preferably in front of 1-A," he said jokingly. "Was that the last of them?"

The armband chimed. "Area successfully defended. For five-minute complete defence against medium grade assault, thirty-five points have been awarded. Fifteen tier one, ten tier two, five tier three and one tier four robots defeated. Ninety points total, split between six members. Total points awarded: fifty. Current total: Eighty-five points."

"Sweet!" Setsuna said. "We good to continue?"

While the rest were clearly beginning to tire, they nodded nonetheless. She smiled.

"Alright, armband! Where's the next attack?"

"Upcoming attack location: Ground Gamma, coordinates CD-2. Assault beginning in one minute, twelve seconds."

With that, the team set off to the next location.

-o-o-o-

I heard the crowd roar as the tier four robot fell, and I couldn't help but smile at the sight. One of the cameras had changed to focus on them, displaying them on one of the six large screens of the stadium to give them their moment in the spotlight. If nothing else, this should be enough to attract some attention from Pro Heroes. They had worked remarkably well together, coming up with something I hadn't seen in their training exercises.

"AND THE TEAM OF TOKAGE, SHIOZAKI, MONOMA, PONY, KENDOU AND KOMORI TAKES DOWN THE ROBOT!" Present Mic shouted into the microphone. "WITH THAT, EACH OF THEM ARE UP TO EIGHTY-FIVE POINTS, PLACING THEM BACK IN THE TOP TEN!"

"You're looking happy," Aizawa said, looking over at me. "Proud of your students?"

"I'm just an assistant," I told him.

"I'm fairly sure they learnt that from you," he countered. I raised an eyebrow. "Kan-sensei told me about how you performed during your assessment."

He counted off on his fingers. "One: tried beating the robot with a paradox. Thanks for that, by the way, I loved Power Loader's reaction when we told him what happened. Two: abused physics and the robot's own weight to destroy themselves. Three: used their quirks to restrain their movements. Need I go on?"

"They're stuff that they learned themselves," I dismissed. "Some stuff they mimicked, some stuff they practiced during my exercises. That one was completely original."

"So they're your students, aren't they?" he said with a lazy smile. "Or is it true as I've heard through the grapevine that you've become friends?"

"Who even told you that?" I asked. As far as I was aware, none of them had mentioned it.

"It's called being observant," he snarked. "You should try it some time."

Was this how it was like dealing with myself?

"Anyway, your students are pretty impressive as well. Todoroki and Bakugou are maintaining their lead fairly comfortably. Tokoyami, Iida and Yaoyorozu aren't slouches either."

They'd elected to go down the path of destroying robots, along with most of the other Hero Course students. Without some kind of prior discussion, many had tried to take on area defence but couldn't withstand the number of robots on their own, falling back to taking out isolated robots instead. The heavy hitters couldn't really use their quirks without causing damage to the surroundings, and instead hunted for high value tier four robots.

With their quirks, Bakugou and Todoroki had pretty much been able to demolish just about every robot they could find, with Todoroki even being able to freeze a pair of tier fours at the same time. That was pretty impressive.

"They're going to slow down once fewer robots stay on the field. Soon they'll have to compete with each other," Aizawa said.

"You don't think they'll try to earn points some other way?"

Aizawa raised an eyebrow. "You think _Bakugou_ would go rescuing civilians?"

"Point," I conceded.

"You must be proud of them, all six in the top ten."

"It's mostly from the thirty-five point windfall from successful defence. The others will catch up very soon," I said. "Take a look at Izuku. They're organising up quickly. Once he gets a system together, he'll be catching up with the rest. He's pretty good at working with other people's quirks."

As it was, the four from class 1-A that went to the rescue zone were positioned in the twenties and thirties. At some point, Mei had joined up, using her support equipment to mobilise around and break her way through debris. I had no idea how she managed to bring that much equipment with her, but it was helping immensely in the rescue efforts.

A few from class 1-B were with them, including Kuroiro, with his Mover quirk saving them some time in scouting and trying to find ways to get civilians out. Juzo's softening was also immensely helpful in shifting debris around, greatly reducing the time taken for the rescue team.

With the way things were going, it looked like most of the Hero Course students would be able to make it to the next round. I eyed the standings once again. There were some outliers, of course.

The purple-haired student from the General Education course was someone of interest. Early on, he'd elected to go for capture points. When he'd finally found a target to capture, the camera feed didn't completely show just what had happened, but it seemed like his target simply allowed himself to be bound by capture tape and followed the boy to the capture checkpoint.

Hitoshi Shinsou. I didn't quite know what his quirk was, but just from observation it seemed like a Master power.

"Thinking about him?" Aizawa said, eyeing the scoreboard.

"Yeah. Is he a Master?"

"That's one of those that controls people or minions, right? His quirk Brainwashing lets him issue orders to people who respond to his voice."

Hmm. That was a lot less versatile than I'd originally thought. "A decent Master power, but with some serious limitations, then."

"You think it's weak?" He sounded surprised.

"It's limited in its use, if it requires conditions like those. I can't be sure until I know the full scope of his abilities, but compared to some powers from my world it's quite a bit weaker."

Of course, I was comparing him with the likes of Valefor, Regent, Cherish, Heartbreaker and Khepri.

"What kind of powers did your world have?" he asked, bewildered.

"There was someone a bit similar to him, I guess. He could issue commands to anyone he made eye contact with."

"How did you even manage to beat someone like that?"

"I don't want to talk about it," I evaded. "Doesn't matter, anyway. He's not here now."

Aizawa scrutinised me carefully. I still wasn't sure just exactly how much he trusted me. I knew he had some doubts after our initial meeting, but it had simmered down since I began assisting in some classes.

"Fine," he said finally.

With that, we both continued looking at the screen. Bakugou destroyed a tier three robot just before Todoroki could attack, taunting him all the while. "They really don't fit together."

Aizawa sighed. "It's a work in progress. Both of them have some deep-seated issues."

"Anything I can help with?"

He looked carefully at me once again, considering. After several seconds, he spoke. "I heard about what you said in All Might's class. You didn't hear this from me, but Todoroki-san has some issues with some heroes you talked about."

"I guessed that was the case, but wasn't completely sure. Anyone in particular?"

Again, he paused. "It might be pertinent to your knowledge of this world that you look up some of the top ten heroes. Endeavour's career is particularly illuminating."

Endeavour? Wasn't that Todoroki's father? That explained a possible personal element.

"Will do," I said.

"Oi!" Hizashi shouted, temporarily turning off his microphone feed. "Stop slacking off! I'm not running a one-man radio show here!"

I sighed, looking back to the screen. There haven't been many new developments for some time.

The six of my friends were midway through another invasion, working their way through the robots quite comfortably. Todoroki and Bakugou were still destroying their competition, while the other robot-hunters struggled to keep up in the tens to thirties positions. Izuku was mobilising rapidly, swapping Ochaco out for another group of students while she took some time to recover from the use of her quirk. Shinsou, Toru, Tsuyu, Sero and Mineta were still hard at work finding and capturing the villains out in the open areas.

All in all, the identities of the ones progressing to the second event were quite set in stone. With the cut-off being the fiftieth position, most of those in the top thirty could quite comfortably stop in about another five to ten minutes. I wondered whether anyone would catch on to that fact and take some time to recover before moving on to the next event? Or would they continue accumulating points to keep their advantage in the second event?

After all, the second event was a continuation of the scenario of the first, only Nezu's involvement would make things a _lot_ more interesting. He'd kept me away from some of the finer details, just in case I let details leak to my students. All I knew was that the two events were going to be extremely similar, but evaluated completely different things of the students.

"Do you know what Nezu has in mind for the second event?" I asked during a lull in the action.

Hizashi turned to face me, then shrugged. "I suppose you'd find out eventually, anyway. Remember when you were talking about that idea to test their adaptability? And that idea of facing an unstoppable threat? That other plan of a fighting retreat? _And_ that other idea of forcing the students to think of whether cooperation or a group effort was best? Turns out, he wants to combine them all together. Crazy, isn't he?"

That sounded… complex. "How is he going to manage that?"

Now, Aizawa spoke. "Seems like he was inspired by your Endbringers. He's going to ride a giant untouchable robot, and anyone hit by his attacks is out of the event. Everything else will continue as before, only slightly harder and with different ways of earning points. Those choosing to work in groups need to decide how they want to split their points between themselves. They'll also be able to transfer points or attack and steal points from one another. Their armbands keep track of the score."

Seriously? That was _really_ complex. Not only was there an element of tracking his movements and running away from the 'Nezu-bot', those working in teams may also face the possibility of splintering if they couldn't decide how to divide up their points.

It was almost like how it'd been during Scion's rampage. Capes that banded together fractured after the failed oil rig battle, choosing to selfishly carry out their own goals during humanity's final hour. The Irregulars had stormed Cauldron's base, Teacher did what he did best, and the Yangban had sealed themselves off. Presumably, this event would leave students running from the giant death-robot, while competing among themselves to take points while still engaging in the tasks available to score more points.

"Do you think the students will realise what he's trying to test?"

"What do _you_ think he's testing them on?" Aizawa asked in return.

"They'll need to figure out whether to make this an individual or group effort. Those like Todoroki and Bakugou with a good lead in points would probably do fine on their own, but those working on their own in the twenties to thirties are going to either have to step up a lot or find ways to get points quickly. Would they raise their own points or try to get the rest out of the event? Those already in groups have a decent shot at making it through to the tournament, but probably only if they transfer their points to certain teammates. As it is, even those six are going to be falling behind the rest. They're already out of the top ten."

"You came up with that analysis in that short period of time?" Aizawa said, eyebrows raised. "I'm impressed."

"It's going to depend on how the rules change, obviously, but I can see a large shift in how things will work," I waved him off. "If Nezu is going to be running around, working on rescue points may become harder. They won't have quite the same manpower either. Same goes for defence, if Nezu chooses to rush invasion points they'll have to abandon the area. Students are going to come into contact more frequently if he forces them out of certain zones. That's even before factoring how the ruleset changes."

"True. You can read the rules here, if you want," he said, handing me some sheets of paper. I was impressed; Nezu had made them very detailed.

"You alright to do the commentary without me?" I asked.

"What commentary? You haven't said a word since the event started. Just a moment," Hizashi said, turning to the microphone. "AND SHINSOU HITOSHI OF CLASS 1-C FROM THE GENERAL EDUCATION COURSE CARRIES OUT ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL CAPTURE! WITH THAT, HE ADVANCES TO THE SEVENTEENTH POSITION!"

Then he looked at me slyly, a clear devious ploy in his mind. "A truly remarkable performance! What do you think about that, Taylor-san?"

I half-considered ignoring him, but eyes were now on me. I didn't have much of a choice but to play along. "An excellent execution of his quirk. It's well suited for such capture-based tasks and has remarkable utility. My only criticism is that his tracking skills are slightly subpar compared to those of the hero courses, forcing him to spend a longer time finding the hiding villains. It would do him some good to improve a bit on that aspect."

With that, I turned off my own microphone feed. "There. I've fulfilled my quota. I'm going to read now."

Ignoring my two fellow commentators, I began perusing through Nezu's notes. The second event was shaping up to look like something interesting.

-o-o-o-

Hitoshi Shinsou didn't know much about Taylor Hebert. Sure, he knew that she was the strange teaching assistant that had come up with the Zombie exercise, but nothing concrete beyond that fact. Regardless, he was thankful that she had changed up the events of the Sports Festival.

Like almost everyone else in Japan, he had religiously watched the Sports Festivals of previous years. The first event was almost always an obstacle course, and while he could perhaps order someone to assist him in the event, there really wasn't a guarantee that he would finish high enough to advance further. Worse, that might paint his quirk in a villainous light, further enforcing the prejudiced views he had endured all his life.

He was _sure_ that this event could at least force some people to rethink their views. When the rules had been explained, he had immediately homed in on how perfect his quirk was for obtaining points by the capture route. His targets were uninjured, he could force them to hand over any information datapads they had, and they wouldn't struggle all the while. It was only a pity that his quirk couldn't get them to perform higher order functions; he had been forced to manually search for the hideouts where these villains were operating from.

He heard another rustle of grass nearby. Normally, it would have been drowned out by other sounds, but with how large the playing field of this event was, most of the other students were off hunting elsewhere. Slowly, he moved forward to where he heard the sound.

Peeking just behind a rock, he came face to face with a startled villain wearing a red armband.

_Bingo._

"Hey!" he shouted. The villain began running away.

Ah, one of those types of actors then.

With how his quirk worked, he had to know of ways to catch people off guard and force a response. So far, only about half of the actors and Ectoplasm's clones had responded to his initial greeting.

"Does farting burn calories?" _Message sent._

The man paused, turning to look at him incredulously, temporarily forgetting his role in the event.

"What? Listen, are you alright -" _Reply._

He felt the buzz of his quirk, and acted on it.

"Stop. Don't struggle. Let yourself be captured, hand over any datapads you have, and follow me to a capture checkpoint."

Wordlessly, the man dug into his pocket, handing over a single device. Then, he brushed across the grass, displacing some dirt to reveal another one of the objects. Shinsou collected them, placing them in his own pockets, then wound the provided capture tape around the man.

"Armband. Nearest checkpoint?"

"Nearest checkpoint is one hundred and twelve metres away. Highlighting area on map now."

He took a look. There was still only just slightly longer than a minute left for the exercise. It seemed like this would be the last villain he could capture.

"Follow me. We're running to the checkpoint," he ordered.

With that, the two of them began to move. They encountered no resistance, although Shinsou could see students desperately trying to destroy the last few robots that they could before time ran out, intervening with the efforts of competitors all the while.

He smiled. With the conditions set upon the task, there were only very few others attempting the capture route. As they reached the checkpoint, his armband chimed again. "Successful tracking and capture of villain. Two datapads retrieved. Villain brought to capture point. Nineteen points awarded to Shinsou Hitoshi. Current ranking: eighteen."

Eighteenth place. That was good enough to advance to the next event, but not to the tournament. He balled his hands into fists. He needed to try harder. No matter what, he was going to prove himself here today. He was going to be a hero.

"Ugh… what happened?" the actor asked, blinking uncomprehendingly as he looked at his bound hands.

"Sorry. I used my quirk," he said unapologetically, while an official helped cut the capture tape off him.

The armband came to life again, but this time Present Mic's voice called out. "AND THAT'S THE END OF THE EVENT! Congratulations to all students, and I hope you had great fun! Please make your way back to the stadium, where we'll brief you on the next event! PLUS ULTRA!"

Even from where he was, he could hear the echo coming from spectators in the stadium. He began making his way back.

_Plus Ultra._

* * *

**So there's that. Looking back now, I should probably add one or two more scenes to give it some more substance. Hopefully it was at least semi-believable. Next chapter the rules of the second event get explained properly rather than the handwaving bullshit here, Nezu gets to wreck things, we see some _friendly competition_ between students, and look at how Team Izuku and Team Setsuna adapt to things.**

**...probably.**

**Hope it at least got the essence of what I was thinking about a few chapters back. Otherwise, well, oops. My bad.**


	8. Two Sides of Heroism

**Here's another one! In less than a week and a half, we've now hit eight chapters (and 60000 words)! A double update here, but mostly because next chapter is a sample/work-in-progress. See my note at the end/start of next chapter.**

**Hopefully it's what you expected. Otherwise... oops, once again.**

**A little bit of a question on the end. **

* * *

**Chapter 8: Two Sides of Heroism**

Once again, Midoriya Izuku found himself back in the stadium alongside the other students who had qualified for advancement to the next round. Beside him were Uraraka, Jirou, Shoji and their newfound friend from the support course, Hatsume Mei.

The girl had been a strange one, having initially attempted to earn points by capturing villains but finding it too much of a hassle. She made her way to Training Ground Beta, where her support equipment had made their task considerably easier. On her person she had jetpacks, hydraulic systems, even a plasma cutter and an air-gun that had been put into good use during the first event.

The only odd thing about her was how she took every opportunity to advertise her inventions, turning to the cameras sited around the Training Ground as she made use of them. Even now, she was still rambling on about the merits of her devices.

"So! The Hover Soles enable free movement of the wearer in mid-air, a vital resource for all sorts of hero-work! Be sure to place an order after the Festival!" She shouted at the crowd, even though Izuku couldn't see anyone that was actually paying any attention.

No, they were focused on Todoroki and Kacchan. As the two powerhouses of class 1-A, they were ranked in the first and second places respectively, with a sizeable gap between them and Iida in the third position.

"ALRIGHT! NOW THAT WE'RE ALL BACK, WE'LL BEGIN THE BRIEFING FOR THE SECOND EVENT!" Present Mic's voice rang out around the stadium.

Izuku instantly went on the alert. By his side, his friends were doing the same, Hatsume finally keeping quiet for the first time since he'd met her. His current ranking wasn't great, being placed in nineteenth position, a few ranks lower than Jirou at eleventh. It made sense, he didn't locate as many civilians or directly rescue them. Most of his points were earned by organising the other students around. With the event being over, most of them had already left. Some of them that had made the cut-off had also voluntarily disqualified themselves, offering their positions up to other students.

Aizawa spoke. "The premise for the second task follows the events of the first. It is now a few days after the simultaneous villain attacks, and Ground Beta has been completely destroyed, with all civilians evacuated. Accordingly, the playing field for the second event will be shrunken down, which also accommodates for the smaller number of competitors."

Present Mic continued from there. "Despite the best effort of you young heroes in destroying the villainous robots and capturing those in charge of the attack, the villains have begun their own counterattack! The evil mastermind orchestrating the attacks turns out to be Nezu, the Mad Genius! With his first plan foiled, he now rides personally into battle, destroying all in his path! Take a look at the screens!"

What. The. Heck?

All around him, Izuku could hear similar shouts of surprise and outrage. Displayed on the screen was a robot that dwarfed even the zero-pointers from the exam, probably well-over forty-metres in height. It had four legs, each at one of its corners, contributing to its overall stability. Four arms emerged from its sides, exhaust pipes and weapons ports of all sorts coming out from its arms and body. Its joints were all well-protected, with no obvious openings and weaknesses seen. Red optical targeting and visual systems were labelled all around the robot in strategic locations, with a cockpit in the chest from which Nezu's face peered out, caught in a malicious smile.

"This is the Nezu-bot!" A recording of Principal Nezu's voice rang out from the stadium's speakers. "An indestructible robot with unstoppable force! As you can see, it possesses immense firepower and weaponry. For this task, being caught by any one of its attacks will be considered as having been 'killed' and removed from the event! During the event, you will have to discover for yourself just what the Nezu-bot can do. And if you're even thinking of trying to attack me head-on…"

A recording played on the screen. Was that a _rocket launcher_? The projectile flew, hitting the robot directly, creating a titanic explosion larger than even Kacchan's strongest use of his quirk. Clouds of black smoke emerged from the impact site, and when it cleared...

Not a dent. Not even a scratch. Heck, it was barely even singed. Izuku felt a chill run down his spine.

"I'd love to see you try," Nezu finished.

"That's so unfair!" A girl from class 1-B shouted, her sentiments echoed by many others. Wasn't that one of Taylor's favourite students?

"Oh, my God," Hatsume stared unblinking at the image. Was she scared? She wasn't on the Hero Course like them, after all.

"I want that baby."

Nevermind. Izuku had forgotten how crazy she was.

"Continuing on," Aizawa said with authority, cutting off further conversation. "Many of the rules and methods of scoring points will be changed from the first event. As mentioned, Ground Beta is gone, and with it rescue points. There will be no more capture points. There will be much fewer robots roaming the area except in designated invasion locations. Defence points will still be awarded, but will be heavily influenced by our next change."

Taylor spoke next. "The first event was a chance for you to showcase your talents in your chosen setting, in most cases without having to compete with others. Now, the rules have changed. You can choose to give your points to other candidates through issuing a command with your armband. Similarly, you can attack other candidates, and we will discretionarily decide on how many points are stolen from the attacked party depending on the damage dealt by your attack. Taking another competitor's armband will be counted as stealing all of their points, but not elimination. You are free to decide how you want to proceed – team up with others, go solo, or team up and then betray your teammates? There are no rules governing this. The choice is yours."

_Betray_? That didn't sound very heroic.

"Your points will be carried over from the first event," she continued. "The top sixteen will move on to the tournament. You will be given ten minutes to decide now how you want to start initially, whether as individuals or groups. After that, you will be led by officials to different starting locations to prevent immediately having to fight with other groups. Principal Nezu will begin from an unnamed random location. Remember – taking a hit from any of Nezu's attacks will result in immediate elimination and removal from the event. You will be given an a smaller, second tag to keep on your person for us to keep track of your position in case your armband gets taken away. Upon elimination of a competitor, all armbands will sound an alert and give coordinates to warn you of the Nezu-bot's location. Like the first task, this will run for forty-five minutes, or until only sixteen students are left, whichever comes first. Are there any questions?"

"Me! Me!" Izuku turned. It was that same girl from class 1-B.

"Yes, Setsuna?"

"Is this supposed to be like a Battle Royale-Horror Survival-King of the Hill hybrid?"

Present Mic burst into laughter.

"YES! Yes, Tokage-san from class 1-B! That's _exactly_ what this is!" he answered amidst sounds of gasping and choking.

"Iida?"

"Taylor-san! Will points still be awarded for defeating robots if we don't finish defending an area?"

"Yes. Again, if done in groups, points will be equally split between team members. Any more questions?"

People still looked confused, but no more hands were raised.

"Alright. If there are no more questions, your ten minute planning time begins now."

Immediately, Izuku turned to look at his friends. "Uraraka-san, Shoji-san, Jirou-san, Hatsume-san. Will we still be working together?"

Shoji looked contemplatively at Izuku, then nodded. "It has been fruitful working together with you, Midoriya-san. We will strive to make it into the top sixteen together."

Jirou shrugged. "Works for me. I can call out where other teams are if we're going to take them down or to avoid them."

Likewise, Uraraka nodded. "We'll keep working together, Deku!"

Hatsume didn't even bother replying. Now that the briefing was over, she was alternating between staring wide-eyed at the image of the Nezu-bot, and talking to random people in the crowd about her inventions.

"Right!" Izuku cheered. "We'll make it to the finals together!"

With the agreement settled, it was time to discuss about their plan of action.

"We're not yet in the top sixteen. Will we be trying to get more points by taking the students' points, defending an area or hoping that Nezu takes the rest out?" He asked.

"My quirk gives us a good idea of whether other teams may be nearby," Jirou considered. "I'd say we have a good shot at taking single students out and avoiding people we can't beat."

Izuku nodded. That sounded like a good plan. He felt really useless, not being able to make use of One for All in any way that mattered. Crippling himself during the event would leave him helpless.

"We've got some good ways of taking out isolated students," Uraraka noted. "If Jirou can locate them and let us strike when they're alone, Shoji will be able to take down most people in a one-to-one close quarter fight. If I can touch them, I'll be able to eliminate them as well."

No mention of what _he_ could do. Again, he felt like a dead-weight.

No. He had to press on. All Might said that this was his chance to announce himself to the world. He had tried his best in the first event to demonstrate how he worked in rescue operations, but could he do more here?

He continued thinking all the way until the timer ran out.

-o-o-o-

"Any thoughts on people to look out for?" Hizashi asked while waiting for the students to be brought to their assigned locations. They'd left about five minutes ago, but it would still take awhile considering how large the playing field was even after shrinking it down.

Just like before, my six students had chosen to remain together. Currently, they were tied in the twelfth to seventeenth position, insufficient for all of them to advance to the next round. How would they handle that dilemma? I was worried that that conundrum might have fractured their group, but they had elected to continue as they were. Similarly, Izuku and those who'd went with him stuck together.

"Besides Todoroki and Bakugou? I'd say Shinsou Hitoshi might have a good chance, seeing as no one actually knows about his quirk. Iida can keep his distance from Nezu, and with his current rank of third place he could probably stay in hiding and take opportunistic strikes and make it very comfortably into the tournament. Some of the lower-ranked students working on their own will probably not be able to make the cut; I don't see Mineta or Toru being able to keep up with the rest."

"I notice you didn't mention anything about your students?" Hizashi said. "I can see why you hang out with Tokage-san, that girl has such a sense of humour! You're going to make me jealous, Taylor-san!"

"Bugs in your lunch. Second warning."

"I didn't even mention the zombies!" He protested.

"Ignoring Hizashi, what _do_ you think of those six?" Aizawa questioned. "Will they make it to the finals?"

I thought through the question. "They're good students, don't get me wrong, but I don't see them all making it through. Right now, they'll already have to lose one member based on their rankings alone. In my training sessions I've not yet put them up to a proper fight with their quirks against other students, so they won't find it as easy trying to earn points here. Besides, if Nezu manages to find them, they won't really have a good chance of escaping. I'd say it's fifty-fifty."

I took another look at the information Nezu had prepared. Seriously, how had he gotten someone to build this Nezu-bot? It didn't have any of the weaknesses I'd exploited with the weaker robots, its joints safely sequestered away behind layers of steel. The only direct method of entry I noted were its exhaust systems, but I doubted he would leave that unprotected.

Sure, he was toning down the firepower to keep it at a safe level for students, but still. Knockout gas? Flamethrowers? Tranquiliser darts? What seemed to be a weak version of containment foam? A _plasma cutter_? _Rockets?_

Ignoring the financial aspects, how did this even get past school board approval?

"I've learned that it's best not to question the _how_ behind some of Nezu's antics, Taylor-san," Hizashi advised sagely. "He simply does what he wants."

"He's like the love-child of a Tinker and a Thinker," I said.

"None of us really get that reference, but sure," Hizashi replied.

The communicator on the desk that was linked to the armbands used in the tasks gave a single ring.

"They're ready," Aizawa informed us.

Right. Time to see how this would go. Hopefully, Nezu would begin far away from my students.

"ALRIGHT! EVERYONE IS IN PLACE! WITH THAT, THE COMPETITION BEGINS! AND NOW, TO KICK IT ALL OFF, LET'S SEE WHERE PRINCIPAL NEZU HAS CHOSEN TO START!"

"…_IT'S THE AREA EAST OF TRAINING GROUND GAMMA!"_

-o-o-o-

Bakugou Katsuki was feeling _very_ confident about all of this. Sure, he'd lost to Two-Face during the first round, but so what? Now that he was actually allowed to attack other students, this event would be a cake-walk.

Sure, Principal Mouse-man's robot looked strong, but he wasn't really that afraid of it. He hadn't ever come across any robot that could withstand the full force of his explosions, even without the equipment he used to collect his sweat. That demonstration was probably just to scare them off.

He had been brought over to one of the open areas where he had previously been hunting robots. The official had left after warning him not to start moving until given permission by Present Mic, so he resorted to taking a look around.

There were a few other students he could see, although quite some distance away. Maybe seventy to a hundred metres? He recognised Kirishima, the frog, the electric idiot, and the preppy engine guy. Which one should he go for first?

It appeared they were evaluating along the same lines. The nosy class-representative was in third place, but he packed some serious speed. It wouldn't do good for Bakugou to exhaust himself trying to catch up right away. The frog would be equally hard to pin down. Maybe the idiot or Kirishima? He could always catch up with the frog after taking them out.

Electrical idiot first, then. How to approach him? A direct approach with from the air with his blasts? Or should he try to trap him between himself and Kirishima, then take both their points once he was done?

While in the midst of thinking, his armband rang. No more time for thinking. "ALRIGHT! EVERYONE IS IN PLACE! WITH THAT, THE COMPETITION BEGINS!"

_Boom._

He exploded into motion, leaping off the ground and sending a blast to propel him up into the air. A few more explosions, and he was rapidly bridging the gap between himself and his blonde classmate.

"Oh shiiii –"

Bakugou didn't let him finish that sentence, already squeezing out another few drops of sweat and combusting them in mid-air. The classmate was sent flying back, bouncing on the ground several times before rising to stand. Bakugou dropped into a roll, riding the momentum of his blast, then smoothly propelled himself forward again.

"Oh no you don't!" Bakugou heard him shout, as he released electricity all around his body.

Quickly, Bakugou brought his arms in front of him, sending yet another blast to halt his forward momentum, his hands starting to turn numb from the rapid use of his quirk. Damn it, the event had only just begun. What was that idiot thinking? Wouldn't his quirk leave him stupid for a long time?

"You idiot!" he shouted at the fool, just beginning to stop the electricity around himself. He collected a few more drops of sweat, charging up for a large explosion.

Then, he released it, sending his classmate flying back once more. He fell over, bounced once, twice, and didn't immediately rise again, feebly attempting to push himself up.

"You're giving me your armband. Now," he threatened.

His classmate coughed. Slowly, he took it off. Bakugou was about to grab it, when suddenly he noted that something wasn't quite right.

He was out in the open. Why was there a shade?

He turned toward his right. Oh, crap.

"_I see I've found my first victims!" _Principal Mouse-man cackled. _"What a pity, Bakugou Katsuki! You had such potential to go far!"_

One of the robot's arms raised, firing a large number of projectiles. Bakugou could just barely put his arm out to the side, sending another explosion and forcing himself into a roll to dodge.

What the hell was that? He looked at where the attack had landed.

Darts?

"_Not bad! Let's see how you like this!"_

A port opened out from the robot's chest. Bakugou tensed, ready to dodge once more.

It shot a stream of some kind of liquid, and he forced himself airborne once again, out of the path of its attack. As it hit the ground where he and the electric idiot were fighting, it solidified, trapping his classmate.

His armband rang out. "Kaminari Denki has been eliminated. Coordinates CE-3."

Right, that was his name. He didn't have time to think about that though, there were larger issues at hand.

"_You're good at dodging, Bakugou-kun! But you can't run from me forever!"_ Once again, Principal Mouse-man laughed maniacally. Just what was his problem?!

You know what? Screw this. Kirishima wasn't even here anymore, and the rest had likewise dispersed. He couldn't even get Kaminari's armband anymore since he'd been eliminated. The substance was just beginning to turn to liquid again, allowing him to crawl off to one side while waiting to be brought out of the playing field.

Yeah. There wasn't anything worth staying here for anymore. Time to leave.

Of course, he flashed the middle finger to Principal Mouse-man, before launching himself into the air and getting the hell out of there.

Behind him, he could still hear the principal cackling.

-o-o-o-

"_Kaminari Denki has been eliminated. Coordinates CE-3."_

"Where the hell are we now?" Setsuna asked, rapidly checking her armband. The dot representing her position was on the grid-square AB-4. The map ran on a simple grid of six letters by six letters, with nine smaller subdivisions in each square. That meant that Nezu was still quite some distance away, right?

"What's the plan?" Monoma asked. "We've got an invasion here in forty seconds."

"We should be able to take it, right? CE-3 isn't that close to us," Itsuka said.

The invasion point was set right in the middle of a four-way road intersection. Could they afford to do this? They needed the points, if they all wanted to make it to the tournament. Damn it. What should they do?

Taylor said to play to their strengths. They needed to adapt. But just what the hell did that mean in an event like this?

Thirty seconds. No time to think.

"We're defending this area. Kinoko-chan, Ibara-chan, we need more defences than previously in case other students sneak up to ambush us. Monoma-san, you're assisting. Stick together. Itsuka-chan, we're counting on you to protect us if things get tough."

"Right! Your faith in me won't be misplaced!" Ibara declared, sending her vines covering across the ruined intersection. It wasn't an ideal battle location, far too open compared to the streets of Ground Gamma, but at least there was some clutter they could make use of. Some large blocks and towers made by Cementoss' quirk, even a few of the large stacked hands that she recognised as Taylor's power.

Already, mushrooms were growing and stacking on top of each other to form a wall that blocked out two entrances. She separated out one of her eyes, carefully moving it to the top of the mushroom wall. That way, she could at least spot incoming students if they tried to engage them while they were up against the invading robots.

"Ten seconds. I see them, get ready!"

No sense waiting for the robots to get to them. She sent her arms and legs flying out, Pony's horns alongside her floating limbs. The first charge knocked over the tier one robots leading them, but with the loss of momentum things were going to get harder.

"_Koda Koji has been eliminated. Coordinates BE-4."_

Damn it. Nezu was moving in their general direction. Continue or run?

Monoma was using Ibara's quirk, opting to focus all of the vines to trip a single tier two robot rather than spreading it out over a wide area as Ibara had done. Good, they would have both area control and some decent ability to take out single targets.

"_Kaibara Sen has been eliminated. Coordinates BE-5."_

_Another_ one already? That was too fast! It had only been, what, three minutes since the event started?

"_Kamakiri Togaru has been eliminated. Coordinates BE-5. Kodai Yui has been eliminated. Coordinates BE-5. Awase Yosetsu has been eliminated. Cooordinates BE-5."_

Oh, God. This was a nightmare.

"What the hell?" Monoma shouted, as vines twisted around the tier two robot. He dragged it toward Itsuka where it was taken out by a single punch. "Are you serious?"

"Should we run and hide?" Pony asked worriedly.

"We can still stick here for a while. We'll need to be careful once he moves to the grid square next to us, though. Stay alert, everyone," Setsuna took charge.

"Hey!" Kinoko called out, pointing in a direction. Setsuna took the moment to look with the eye she placed on the mushroom wall, while her head continued watching the incoming robots. "That's someone from 1-A, right?"

It was the boy with the really thick lips, making their way towards them. Satou, was that his name? What was his quirk again?

"I'll keep an eye on him. Team, get ready to engage if needed."

He was about eighty metres away, looking at his armband. Damn, he was probably after defence points as well. Setsuna couldn't quite remember what his ranking was, but he definitely wasn't in the top sixteen. Was he trying to earn more points as well?

He was making his way toward them. Damn, they had to prepare for a fight. He took a closer look, now seeing the tide of robots. She stared threateningly at him with the eye that remained in her head, tracking his movements with both eyes. He started, paused in mid-step as he considered their team.

Then he ran.

"Um. What?" Kinoko asked, hands outstretched as she prepared to grow some mushrooms from spores that she had distributed.

"He's afraid of us," Monoma reasoned. "He's alone, we're a team, and he doesn't really know our quirks."

"Should we go after him?" Pony asked. "If we use my horns, we can catch him quickly enough."

"We don't know his quirk either," Ibara pointed out.

"Ibara-chan is right. It's going to be risky going after him, especially since we can just defend this area to make up the points. I say that we stay here for now, run if Nezu advances to the adjacent square, or if a powerhouse like Todoroki or Bakugou spots us," Setsuna offered.

"Makes sense. Okay," Pony agreed, not even looking at her horns as two of them drilled into a tier one robot, sending it send into another tier one.

"_Shoda Nirengeki has been eliminated. Coordinates AD-4."_

"He's moving closer," Monoma warned.

"Armband, how much longer for this invasion?" she questioned.

"_Current time: five minutes, forty-seven seconds. Current attack will last for another two minutes, thirty-two seconds."_

Not even halfway done. What would Taylor do?

_Avoid a direct fight. Cheat. Exploit the system. Don't play fair. _How did that translate into any of this?

"Setsuna?" Kinoko questioned.

"Damn it. Okay. We run. We can't just stay here for another two minutes. Stick together, move in formation to spot out other students. We'll move up heading toward coordinates BA, then loop around to CA. If Nezu changes direction, we change movements again from there."

They nodded. Finishing off the final robots that had already been damaged, they took off along the one other intersection that they hadn't sealed off with mushrooms, abandoning the invasion point.

-o-o-o-

So far, so good. Shinsou Hitoshi had opted to lay low at first, seeing how other candidates were doing. At eighteenth position, there was a good chance that he could get into the finals by virtue of people higher ranked than him being eliminated.

Still, it astounded him just how _fast_ Principal Nezu had taken out the students. How many were eliminated already? Eight? Nine? Ten? Most of them were from the Hero Course, but a few of the students from other classes that had barely made it into the second event were also brought down.

Movement. He tensed. What to do? Engage or not? Run? Hide?

Wait… was someone _crying_?

He paused, listening more carefully. Sure enough, there was someone sniffling. Very carefully, he peeked out from behind the hiding spot he'd chosen. A tree, with a dense overgrowth of foliage adjacent to it, with sight from far-off blocked by more trees and some cement formations that looked to have been grown by Cementoss' quirk.

It was one of the students from 1-A, the boy with grapes on his head, hiding like him just on the other side of the foliage. Shinsou sensed opportunity. It may seem wrong and unjust to take advantage of him like that, but Shinsou _was_ desperate to get into the Hero Course. Besides, that teacher's assistant had said that there were no rules, with even betrayal being permitted.

He needed to get him to respond. How best to do that? He considered his potential victim's psyche. Scared. On edge. Fearful, tired? Hiding away from Nezu? Perhaps also some guilt over not having earned enough points to make it to the top sixteen?

It was something he could abuse. Frightened people always responded best to his quirk.

He got ready. The boy was still shattered, sniffling uncontrollably.

_Now_.

He pounced out through the grass, grabbing at the boy. "Hey!" _Message._

"HOLY!" He jumped at Shinsou's unexpected entry, stumbling over backwards. "What the –" _Reply._

That was simple. "Quiet. Hand me your armband. Then, you go and find the Nezu-bot over in that direction. Let yourself get eliminated."

Wordlessly, the boy complied, eyes glazed over. Shinsou strapped on the additional armband, then watched from behind the foliage as the boy continued walking off into the distance where he'd been directed. There hadn't been a call-out from the armbands in some time. Hopefully he would be able to find where the Principal was moving.

Once more, he waited. Just slightly more than a minute later, the armband rang out again.

"_Mineta Minoru has been eliminated. Coordinates AC-1."_

So that was his name, then. Mineta Minoru.

Shinsou knew he should have felt bad for using him like that, but there were no rules in this exercise. He had to do everything to win.

-o-o-o-

Nezu was having the time of his life.

Since the moment that the exercise started, he had been able to blow off all the worries and stress that had accumulated throughout the year. All those endless hours of administrative work, meetings and plans had been taking its toll on him. Even Taylor Hebert's sudden arrival had been a major source of stress while initially trying to sort out everything, but it had paid so many dividends. _So_ many indeed. The armbands used in this event was one such excellent idea.

The idea of a Nezu-bot wasn't something entirely new, having been used in the past during the end of term exams for first years and other exams for the older students. He had added many new additions, and set up rules for this event based around Taylor's description of the Endbringers during their first meeting. What was he called again? _Behemoth_?

He laughed each time he watched students run away from him in terror. He had seen Iida three times now, and the last was just as humourous as the first. He had frozen up, stared for a second, then turned around and ran as fast as he could. He was considering going after him once more, but it wouldn't be exactly fair.

Of course, the whole thing was rigged in his favour. He had access to their coordinates through their armbands, after all. They had thought that they were simply running away each time, but in actual fact he was rewarding those who remained cautious and kept track of his movements. He would go after them later, but for now he wanted to teach a lesson to those foolish students that thought to not even bother running.

There were even students that had been so busy caught up in a fight that they hadn't noticed his approach, allowing him to take them all out with his dart cannon. Seriously, what were their teachers even teaching them? He would need a good talk with Aizawa and Kan.

It wasn't fair to the first few students he'd encountered, of course. Kaminari Denki had simply been caught at a bad time, having been crippled by Bakugou Katsuki's initial attack. He had run away after realising just how pointless staying around would be, and Nezu rewarded him for that, allowing him to get away. He would go after him at a later point.

It had been interesting when he had first come across Mineta Minoru simply walking toward him. Nezu had wondered whether it was some sort of ploy; Aizawa had said that he had a degree of craftiness and intelligence overlooked by most. It was only after looking at his eyes that he realised just what had happened. Taking a look at the display of where all the armbands were in the field only confirmed his suspicions.

Shinsou Hitoshi, that smart little boy. A little ruthless, but still fair play in this event. Nezu hadn't hesitated to mow the boy down with his foam cannon.

He did enjoy the look of extreme confusion when that broke the control that Shinsou had over the boy. He had blinked uncomprehendingly, trying to move, then turned to face the Nezu-bot, before shrieking uncontrollably.

Nezu had only let that continue for a few seconds before electing to hit him with a tranquiliser dart. The event had to go on, after all. Someone would collect the boy later.

Since then, he had taken down several more students. A few he recognised from the support course, Tsuyu Asui and Yuga Aoyama from 1-A, Fukidashi Manga and Bondo Kojiro from 1-B.

Hmmm… who should he go for next…

Quite some time had passed. While the initial few minutes had proved very fruitful for him, the number of students he caught out had fallen rapidly once they realised just how quickly he had been able to eliminate their competitors. Just a little less than thirty students remained now, although from the positions of the armbands it seemed that some of them had lost theirs to other students. Perhaps Satou Rikido? He had noticed how the boy ran away from the group that Taylor had been training.

Or should he test Taylor's group? They had reacted well to his first pass through the play field, but he _did_ want to see just what they were capable of. They weren't too far away.

Oh? It seemed like Midoriya Izuku's little group was also about to meet with them soon. Interesting. How should he do this?

Plans came to his mind, powered by his quirk. What would best strike a balance between teaching, testing, and personal fun?

He looked at the map again.

Satou was right in the path he would have to take to get to the two groups. That sounded like a plan. Take out one student, get the others in the mood and see how they reacted.

He laughed, steering the robot forty-five degrees to the right, and began moving. Not at full speed, that would make things to easy; just enough to make it challenging.

-o-o-o-

Izuku's group was now nearing the edge of the playing field, just at the corner of Ground Beta. While the main part of it was closed off, the buildings at the very outskirts remained within the playing field. He reasoned that here, there were at least some walls that they could take cover behind, both to avoid other teams and Nezu.

Jirou's quirk had been the most valuable part of their group so far. She called out positions of isolated students, allowing them to set up ambushes to take their armbands away before dividing the points equally between themselves. Most of them weren't high up in points, mostly in the twentieth position and beyond, but they were welcome nonetheless. He hadn't had to use his quirk at all, which was excellent.

He was still worried, though. He wasn't in the top sixteen. Of their team, only Jirou was. What could they do?

"Wait!" Jirou said suddenly, holding out a hand. They stopped, bodies tensing up cautiously. "There's a team ahead. About two hundred metres, coming toward us. A big one. At least five, probably more."

"Should we run?" Uraraka asked.

"We can always fight! I need the chance to show off my toys; these babies won't work themselves!" Hatsume suggested.

"Let's take a look at who they are. Jirou-san, can you point them out to Hatsume-san? With her quirk, she can take a good look at them," Izuku reasoned.

"Yeah. Good plan. Here," Jirou waved her over, then pointed in a direction.

Hatsume focused, probably using her quirk to zoom in on the distance. "Six members. One boy, five girls; lucky him. Vine-hair, one with horns, one with a mushroom head, not sure how to describe the other three. Ring any bells?"

Oh no…

"That's Taylor-san's team?" Shoji questioned.

"Yeah. We know their quirks a little from the videos going around. Shiozaki-san grows her vine hair, Komori-san grows mushrooms, Tokage-san can split her body, Kendou-san can enlarge her fists, Pony-san shoots out her horns and Monoma-san seems to be able to copy quirks," Izuku recited from memory. _Hero Analysis for UA Students, Book 2._

How could he take them down? Their weakness was a close-range battle, but they would get spotted very quickly if they charged at them. Taylor-san's sessions had taught them how to keep targets away under those sort of conditions. What could they do?

"Deku? Any ideas?" Uraraka asked worriedly.

"They're coming closer. Just over a hundred metres now," Jirou warned.

They needed to force an ambush at close range. Okay. They could do this.

"Their team is weak at fighting up close. We'll hide behind this corner, and attack the moment that they come past the corner. Shoji-san, Uraraka-san, you two take the front. Our priority target is Shiozaki-san."

"Right!" Uraraka said, moving closer to the corner.

"Sixty metres," Jirou called out.

"Get ready," he said.

Of course, it was at that moment that a floating eyeball peered past the corner, staring right at them.

Uraraka screamed.

Right. It wouldn't make a sound. Jirou couldn't hear it coming. Stupid, he should have known!

"_Hey! There's a team over here!" _

The eyeball moved further out, keeping watch over them but staying out of their range.

"What now, Midoriya-san?" Jirou asked, backing away from the corner.

What should they do?

-o-o-o-

Setsuna was obviously surprised when they encountered a full team hiding just beyond the corner where she'd scouted ahead, but she reined it in quickly.

"Hey! There's a team over here!" she announced to her teammates.

If only she had sent an ear ahead too. That would have been very useful.

"Who?" Monoma asked.

"Four of those from 1-A, and one I don't recognise."

"Finally! We get to take down some 1-A students!" Monama cheered.

"Be careful, they're planning something," she warned. They hadn't engaged her floating eyeball just yet, but the green-haired one was organising them. What was his name? Midoriya?

"What's our plan?" Pony asked.

It wasn't a very good location for them to fight in. Not a nice open area, the only way available to attack being round the corner of a building. The enemy team could also cut into smaller alleyways, or simply run down and hide across the other corner, and they wouldn't be able to attack.

"Not an ideal battle location. For now, advance far off the side of the building. Don't let them get close, we don't know their quirks. Kinoko-chan, prepare some spores, but don't grow them up just yet."

Cautiously, they advanced. She still didn't know what their plan was, but Midoriya's team was positioned where they had several options available to them. If her team broke the corner, they could force a close range battle; if she tried to take the long route out the side they could retreat around the building or enter the narrow alleys. Not a bad plan, it allowed Midoriya's team to adapt.

What was Midoriya doing? He was moving closer, facing part of the wall. Jirou was pointing in that direction as well. Why?

Wait. That direction…

"DODGE LEFT!" she shouted.

Midoriya flicked one of his fingers. A shockwave of force flew out, hitting the wall, causing it to shatter.

Several chunks of rubble were flying right at them.

Itsuka enlarged her hands, given just enough warning to knock one of them aside. Pony had sent out her horns to intercept a few of them, not quite stopping them but slowing them just enough for the rest to get out of the way.

She focused on Midoriya. What the hell was his quirk?

Then she noted the state of his finger. It was turning purple, a trickle of blood streaming down the side. Broken?

She could abuse that fact.

"Watch out for Midoriya-san. His quirk did that, but it does some serious damage to himself."

With the element of surprise gone, Midoriya's team advanced head on. Immediately, Kinoko began growing mushrooms, slowing down the advance of the first two frontline fighters. The guy with tentacle arms tried to reach them, forcing mushrooms aside, but Kinoko had a lot of experience through Taylor's exercises. Likewise, the girl of the pair was struggling heavily.

"Uraraka-san! Shoji-san!" The purple-haired girl plugged her earphones into the ground, sending a shockwave that dispersed the mushrooms.

"She's a Shaker!" Monoma shouted.

Immediately, Pony and Setsuna sent their horns and body parts flying at her. It was almost funny how that response was so ingrained into her head now after all those hours of dealing with Taylor's Shaker minions.

The tentacle-arm quirk-user dashed back toward the Shaker, pushing her aside while grappling with the many body parts.

That left the other front-liner free to close the gap. Monoma switched over to Itsuka's quirk, meeting the girl head-on. Both their strikes collided. The girl was sent flying back, sprawling onto the ground by the force of Itsuka's copied quirk, while Monoma –

Monoma was flying?

"Striker quirk!" Setsuna warned.

She sent one of her detached arms toward Monoma, trying to drag him down toward the ground. The last remaining member of Midoriya's group chose that moment to engage, hovering in the air with her shoes, tackling Monoma, trying to rip his armband off.

Damned support department.

Midoriya was preparing his quirk again, opposing his fingers to his thumb in another flick.

"Watch out, Midoriya's fingers!" she called out, wasting no time trying to form a proper sentence.

He hesitated. Good, she could abuse that as well.

"Midoriya-san! Any ideas?" The girl with the long earlobes questioned, as she blasted away at another field of mushrooms.

He was up close now, trying to take on Monoma and Kendou at close range. Would he use his quirk? That would cause some huge damage to her team, but Midoriya's team would be crippled if he did so. A bad position for his team.

Then things got worse.

"_Satou Rikido eliminated. Coordinates EA-5."_

"TIME-OUT!" she shouted. They all paused, giving the situation the weight it deserved.

She looked at her armband, then froze. Nearby, the rest were reacting very similarly. Monoma had been released from the Striker's quirk, stumbling shakily to his feet.

"We need to go!" Pony urged.

"Damn it, I was too distracted! He's coming close, three hundred metres, he's loud. Too fast, we can't run!" Jirou shouted.

"How fast?" Setsuna put the fight on the backseat. This was something a _lot_ more important than the fight.

"Two hundred seventy metres! That fast!"

"Damn it!" Monoma swore. "Run, think of something while do we that!"

Together, the group ran, all animosity forgotten. Funny how the idea of a giant Nezu-bot could turn enemies into allies.

-o-o-o-

Nezu took Satou Rikido out of the event with remarkable ease. It might have been a little unfair for the boy, forcing him to take on the Nezu-bot considering what his quirk was, but he should probably have chosen to work together with a team. His quirk did have some huge limitations in a prolonged event like this, after all.

The sounds of battle just a few hundred metres in the distance stopped as the armbands announced his newest takedown. No doubt they were going to run away from him soon. He began to move once again, sending the robot's four legs moving at a comfortable speed. Not fast enough to immediately cut them off, but still sufficiently rapid to prevent any form of escape in a direct chase. What would they do, he wondered?

The tracking system on the armbands indicated they were running as a group. Not bad; at least they could cooperate and work together to stop the bigger threat. Kudos to them, the large group he'd taken out earlier in the event hadn't done that. No, one of that group actually actively tried to drag the rest down with him when it became clear that he couldn't escape.

It was funny, of course, but not great sportsmanship. Then again, they didn't specify rules against that.

-o-o-o-

"He's still coming. We can't outrun him!" Jirou shouted.

"Damn it. Okay. I have a plan," Monoma said, turning his head around while running to look at his team.

"You do?" Pony asked, eyes hopeful, but still running forward.

"Yeah. A stupid one, but a plan."

"Your last one worked. What is it?" Setsuna asked impatiently.

"Armband: Transfer points evenly to my teammates."

For a moment, Monoma enjoyed the silence of both his and the other team. Then -

"What the hell, Monoma? What are you doing?" Setsuna whirled on him.

"Yeah, Monoma-san! W-What are you thinking?" Midoriya followed up. For someone from 1-A, maybe he wasn't all that bad.

"We can't run," he reasoned. Still running, of course. "We can't hide. We aren't all going to make it to top sixteen like this. I'll buy time and annoy him. You guys get away."

"We're a team," Kendou growled. "We're not leaving you behind!"

"Look. Taylor said that I'm a Trump. I'm not good in a fight, but I react and adapt on the fly. I pick up where my team needs me. I'd say this giant deathbot qualifies."

Again, he basked in the stunned silence.

"Ah, you know what? Armband: Transfer points evenly to my teammates," Kinoko said calmly.

What the hell?

"Why?" he asked.

"There's no point in me moving on to the tournament. I don't do well in close-quarters, as cute as my mushrooms are. My quirk will be helpful here. This way, everyone else gets to go onto the tournament."

"You guys…" Setsuna trailed off, voice thick with emotion. Hah, Monoma couldn't wait to rub it in her face once it was all over.

"Monoma-san, Kinoko-chan…" Pony sniffed.

"Damn it," Jirou swore. "We can't let 1-B have all the glory! Armband: Transfer points to my teammates!"

"Jirou-san, why?" Midoriya asked. "If anyone, it should be me! I haven't been useful this whole event! Armband: Transfer –"

The tentacle-arm quirk-user whose name Monoma couldn't quite remember interrupted. "Don't do it, Midoriya-san. You're not using your quirk here because of the damage it deals, but you're the best one in our group for the tournament. Don't waste your chance. Armband: Transfer points to my teammates."

"Shoji-san…" Shoji, huh? Monoma would remember his name.

"I'll… I'll stay and fight too! Armband –"

"Your quirk isn't going to help here, Uraraka-san. He's too heavy to lift. Move on!"

"Armband: Transfer points," the one from the support department echoed them.

Damn, that was a lot of people sacrificing themselves.

"Why, Hatsume-san?" Midoriya sounded helpless.

"Why? Why _not? _This is the perfect chance to show off my babies! Look out, audience! Give us the moment in the spotlight! Let me show you what my babies can do!"

Oh, right. They were being recorded as well. Monoma had forgotten all about that.

"We need to think of something soon! He's coming, and fast!" Jirou shouted.

"Pony-san, Shiozaki-san, Tokage-san, I'm borrowing your quirks!" he said, moving to touch each one of them at any bit of exposed skin, the group slowing down just fractionally.

Right. Time to do this. He focused on Pony's quirk, feeling a horn grow just on his head. It had been odd the first time, but after all of Taylor's exercises moving it around wasn't hard anymore.

"Okay. Here's the plan. I'll ride one horn. Komori-san, you take another. I'll move you around the Nezu-bot, and you grow mushrooms to slow it down. If you go down, I'll switch to Tokage-san's, buy more time. I'm not sure what you 1-A students can do, but I need my third horn to attack. Can you operate on your own?"

"Will do," Shoji said. "You're rather loyal to your team, you know. I might have misjudged you for antagonising our class."

Now was no time for sentiment. He generated two horns, sending one out to Kinoko. "Okay. Komori-san, grab hold of the horn. We make our stand here. You guys move on!"

With that, it was just him, Kinoko, Jirou, Shoji and Hatsume left in the open field; five students standing in the way of the Nezu-bot as it headed for their teams.

It would have been a dramatic moment, but Monoma couldn't focus on that right now. All he heard was the thumping of his own heart.

-o-o-o-

I stared at the screen as one by one, Neito's team and Midoriya's team distributed their points between their teammates. The crowd was silent, listening to the words being picked up by the microphones recording the entire event.

"Did you expect any of this?" Aizawa asked, a look of pride in his eyes as he continued watching the events unfold.

"Not at all," I replied honestly. "They're full of surprises."

Neito's decision had caught me off-guard. He had been caught in a terrible position, and saw no way out of the situation. Maybe if they'd reacted a bit earlier they could have made it out safely, or tried cutting across the narrow alleys and streets, but the opportunity for that was past. Logically speaking, the decision he made was the best one.

Yet, I knew just how _hard_ it could be to make those choices. I had done the same thing so many times over. Choosing to remain a villain for Dinah's sake, choosing to turn over to the heroes' side, choosing to fight Endbringer battles despite the fear it inspired each time. And at the end, choosing to do just what I had done.

I felt a sense of pride mixed with sorrow in equal measure. It felt strangely disconnected. My own, or Administration's? Did it matter?

This moment was Neito's and his makeshift band of five. This was his time to shine. All of the spectators were watching the screen.

Of course, Hatsume's opportunistic advertisement had brought chuckles to the crowd. It served only to highlight the sacrifice that the students were making.

"AND THE FIVE STUDENTS HAVE CHOSEN TO BUY TIME FOR THEIR TEAMMATES TO ESCAPE! What a moment! What a heroic spirit! Please, don't blink as we witness what they will do for their teams!" Present Mic shouted, his voice reverberating around the stadium.

The students organised themselves. Kinoko prepared the field, like a Shaker should, transported by Neito's horns. Jirou was calling out distances and approach vectors, while Shoji took the vanguard. Hatsume was flying in the air, staring at the approaching Nezu-bot.

It was already thirty minutes into the event. If they held Nezu off long enough for the rest to flee, they were almost definitely making it to the final round.

Come on, guys. Show me what you can do.

_Anticipation._

Passenger?

-o-o-o-

Spores were deployed, a huge number of them stacked on top of one another. Monoma knew that Kinoko would be able to grow a stacked wall of mushrooms from that. He recalled the horn back, leaving her floating in the air, separated from him. It wouldn't do good for both of them to be caught out by Nezu.

He was about seventy metres away now. According to Jirou, his speed had slowed down for some reason. Did he know that they were there? Did he know what they had done, what they were about to do?

He didn't attack even after coming into view through the trees and foliage. Monoma tensed. He had no idea what attacks the robot could do, but he knew it was _dangerous_. He would need to react quickly. His team depended on him.

"_Oh, what's this?" _Nezu's voice boomed out from the robot's speakers. "_You're approaching me? Instead of running away, you're coming right to me?"_

Wasn't that some ancient meme? Monoma could entertain him. Anything to buy a few moments for his friends.

"YOU SHALL NOT PASS!" he shouted.

Nezu's laughter rang from the robot. Good, good. Even a few _seconds_ was worth it.

"_Well done, Monoma-san! Well done to all of you! Today, at this moment, you aren't students. Come, young heroes! Show me what you've got!"_

Another few seconds. His team had to be making their way out by now.

An arm moved from the robot, sending out a wave of some kind of projectile. He sent the horns flying away in opposite directions, carrying him and Kinoko away from its path. The fired projectiles continued their trajectory towards the others, but Jirou blew them away with a sonic burst.

_Darts?_

"_Good! More!"_

"Komori-san!" he shouted, not bothering to give a full order. The less Nezu knew, the better.

He sent the horn he was riding on circling by Nezu's right, while Kinoko's flew by the left. His third horn came from the front, striking at the cockpit. It didn't even leave a scratch.

Mushrooms sprouted to life at the robot's feet, prepared by the scattering of spores while they had retreated. From her airborne position, she released more spores to cover the entire left side of the robot, growing them out as fast as she could.

"_Slowing me down? Good plan!"_

One of the arms on his right side crossed over to the left. Monoma quickly sent Komori flying away from the robot, moving over to its back.

A gush of flame flew out from the arm. A _flamethrower?_ Seriously? Monoma took a moment to evaluate the situation.

_A Trump adapts to the fight._

When the flames stopped coming, the mushrooms that had been grown were completely incinerated, but the robot was only just ever so slightly singed. The arm shifted, moving to burn at the wall of mushrooms by its feet.

Hatsume was carrying Shoji in the air, using her support equipment to avoid the stream of darts still flying toward them. On the ground, Jirou was sending her shockwaves into the ground, causing cracks to appear that impeded the robot's movements.

"As you can see! The Hover Boots can provide rapid momentum shifts in mid-air, allowing the user to…" Monoma zoned out on Hatsume's monologue. There simply wasn't _time_ for that.

"Kinoko! On the back!" He ordered, sending his horn closer for her to release more spores. Surely the flamethrower couldn't reach there?

So caught up in the moment was he that he only belatedly realised he had called her by her first name. It didn't matter; there were more serious matters.

Again, mushrooms sprouted from the back, but the robot barely budged. It was far more stable than the previous ones they'd fought, with its four legs providing a very stable base. What could he _do?_

Quickly, he reviewed the information he had on hand. Darts. Flamethrower. The briefing mentioned visual systems and the cockpit.

Idea.

"Kinoko, blind it!"

He sent her in for a second round from the front. This time, she aimed her spores more carefully, releasing them over where the red lights glowed and over the cockpit. Good, surely that had to stop him?

"_Hahaha! A good plan! Pity that I have the flamethrower!"_

Oh, God. Nezu was a monster.

The arm moved again, releasing a jet of flame. He'd only just moved Kinoko out in the nick of time.

"Monoma-san, what now?" she panted, voice just barely heard over the fight.

He evaluated again. Hatsume and Shoji were a pair. Jirou was disrupting its movements while shielding herself from the darts. He was moving Kinoko with his horn while attacking with another.

At that point, Nezu released a wave of liquid from a cannon at the front of the robot's chest. It surged right into Jirou, barely even being slowed by her hasty sonic wave.

"_Jirou Kyoka eliminated. Coordinates EB-2."_

Damn it! Liquid attacks as well?

They couldn't do any damage to him. He wasn't even being physically slowed down; the only reason he had stopped moving as quickly was because they were engaging in combat with him. Were the rest far away enough?

Ideas…

He looked around. Maybe there was potential there.

"Hatsume-san! Can you take Kinoko-san?"

"Hohoho, not to worry! With my jetpack and Hover Boots, I have prepared for every eventuality! Feast your eyes on –"

"HURRY!" Monoma shouted.

She flew Shoji down to the ground, letting him slip on the boots, then flew using her jetpack to grab Kinoko. Good.

With that, he dropped Pony's quirk, switching over to Setsuna's.

He split himself up, sending body parts all over the robot. His head was floating in the air away from everyone else.

"What are you doing?" Shoji asked as his head flew past Shoji on his new hover boots.

"Blocking his vision."

He had approximated just how large of a segment of his body he could spare to block out all of the glowing red lights on the robot's body. With that, Nezu _had_ to be blinded from the front, right? There was also no way he would just scorch his body with the flamethrower, surely?

"_Not bad, not bad! But watch _this!"

Clouds of gas emerged from ports around the robot. It was expanding rapidly. He sent his head flying off as fast as he could away, but it wasn't fast enough –

Then Shoji appeared from the side, grabbed his head with six arms and _threw _him upwards.

"_Shoji Mezo eliminated. Coordinates EB-2_."

This was such bullshit. Seriously? _Gas?_

He looked down from up high. Hatsume was flying backwards, Kinoko held with one hand while a device was held in the other. The cloud advanced no further.

"… you see, with my Air Gun, I can fire a jet of air at high speeds! It excels in situations such as this where noxious gas is in play –"

How could she even still think of advertising at this time?

The robot's arms bent over backwards, releasing jets of flame at mushrooms coating its back surface. _Of course_ it didn't have joints like normal people. Why was he even surprised at this point?

Then they rotated over to the front again. Surely he wouldn't –

The flames rushed at his body parts. Quickly, he moved them off the robot's visual systems.

"_Well done, well done! You've exceeded my expectations, all of you! Unfortunately, the time for play has passed."_

The robot turned, facing toward Hatsume and Kinoko. Quickly, Monoma sent out his hands flying toward them, trying to get them out of the way. Nezu combined attacks, sending both a wave of the gas that had taken out Shoji and a volley of darts. Hatsume tried her best to dodge, going close to the ground, but in the end her aerial manoeuvrability and feeble air-gun defence was insufficient. Darts struck both girls, and Monoma just barely caught them before they hit the ground.

"_Hatsume Mei eliminated. Coordinates EB-2. Komori Kinoko eliminated. Coordinates EB-2."_

Just him now. One man with a teammate's borrowed quirk against a giant robot that had already taken out four of his hurriedly arranged teammates.

Monoma laughed.

"_Oh?" _Nezu questioned. "_What else do you have?"_

There was nothing else he could do. He'd tried to adapt, he'd tried _everything _he could. It wasn't enough. He landed some distance behind the robot, joining his scattered parts together. Then he switched over to Ibara's quirk, sending vines wrapping around the robot's leg and _pulled_.

If it even bought a few seconds, it would be worth it.

"Screw you, shitty Principal! You're not getting _my team_!" he shouted, running his voice hoarse.

The robot continued moving forward even as its hands rotated round to its back. He was dragged along the ground, as he quickly sent more vines behind him around anything he could find. Trees, pillars, lamp-posts; anything to gain some traction.

"_For what it's worth, you've demonstrated what it means to be a hero today, Monoma-kun."_

He saw the darts coming toward him. He didn't make any move to dodge. He just kept pulling.

Just before darkness took over him, he heard his armband call out.

"_Monoma Neito eliminated. Coordinates EB-2."_

-o-o-o-

The boy – no, the _hero_ – fell over backward, as vines retracted from around the Nezu-bot. He landed on the ground. Jirou, as the sole member of the group that hadn't been taken out by tranquiliser darts or knockout gas, quickly moved to check on the downed members.

That had been a _very_ pleasant surprise. For a moment, Nezu had considered letting them go.

Of course, he couldn't show any favouritism. It had to be done.

He had laughed, of course, when Monoma Neito had began by quoting that old set of fantasy books, matching his own quote of that popular manga series. That laughed had changed throughout the fight into one of pride and joy in his students. When he'd finally been forced to put the students down, there had been no laughter at all. The sacrifice they had elected to make deserved that.

He could ignore how the hero-in-the-making insulted him at the end. He fought for his team, after all.

For their efforts, he decided that he wouldn't hunt down the remains of their teams for the rest of the event. He looked at the screen once more. Where should he go next?

-o-o-o-

The crowd laughed as Neito quoted _The Lord of the Rings_. They cheered as the first wave of mushrooms grew. They gasped when the flamethrowers came into play.

Laughs mixed with cheers at Hatsume's relentless exploitation of screen-time. Gasps and cheers intermingled as Neito moved Kinoko out of the flame's way, the girl trusting completely in her teammate.

One by one, they fell. One by one, the crowd grew silent, watching as each member fell to the Nezu-bot. When it was just Neito and Nezu, when he'd resorted to using his teammate's quirk to buy every last second he could, no one spoke. They only watched and listened as the darts flew toward the boy, still struggling with all that he had.

Of course, some had laughed when he insulted the principal right in his face.

"_Monoma Neito eliminated. Coordinates EB-2,_" the final announcement came.

Present Mic didn't know quite what to say for a moment. Then he moved toward the microphone.

"A daring attempt by Monoma-san, Komori-san, Jirou-san, Hatsume-san and Shoji-san! Thanks to their efforts, the Nezu-bot remained in position for over four minutes, allowing their teammates to escape! Please, everyone, a round of applause for our brave heroes-to-be!"

The applause was deafening. Hell, some in the crowd were standing.

By my side, Present Mic and Aizawa rose.

Was Neito's struggling a small fraction of how it might have looked to a third party every time we had fought against an Endbringer? I remembered all our desperate attempts to force Behemoth back, giving up ground block by block. Even when we'd combined our powers to cut his advance for Phir Se's weapon, it had only been a temporary measure. I remembered how Leviathan had cut through entire groups of capes, armbands announcing their deaths by the dozen.

I remembered Scion, feeling so powerless up until the end. Even as Khepri, we were barely damaging him until we'd played at his emotions.

I had to give Neito credit where he was due. He never gave up, not one bit.

Even if he didn't make it to the tournament, I didn't doubt that he and the others would have caught the eye of more than one Pro Hero; possibly more than those who actually made it into the final event.

"That was intense," Hizashi commented, the microphone feed turned off. After what had just happened, there really wasn't much action going on.

"Yeah. They lasted way longer than every other team that went up against Nezu," I said. "He was going easy on them, but still."

"You've found excellent friends. You're a good influence on them, Taylor-san," Aizawa commented.

"That was all them. I'm proud," I corrected.

"Those six are probably going into the finals now, then?" Hizashi noted, taking a look at the scoreboards. With the re-distribution of points, the remnants of both teams were now very comfortably placed in the top sixteen. There wasn't much time left for the event, and I was confident that they would make it to the tournament.

"Yeah."

"Think anything can top what we'd just seen?"

"I doubt it," I said.

I looked back at the screen. Both teams had now decided to band together, enforcing a truce. No doubt their teammates sacrifices had something to do with that. Speaking of those teams…

"Aizawa, I've been meaning to ask you. Just what is Izuku's quirk?"

He sighed. "Honestly? I'm trying to figure that out myself. It's too destructive for his body to be used effectively."

"Isn't there any way to train him?" I thought back to my world. Some capes did have problems with the Manton Limit, being affected by their own power. Mostly Case Fifty-Three's and Cauldron capes, given how their powers were acquired. As far as I knew, most either died early on or simply endured and learned how to work with their powers.

"It's not so simple. You need to know how the quirk works, and Midoriya-san needs the experience to improve it. I'm looking into experts with similar quirks that might be able to work with him."

Hmm. Something to consider for another time. I looked back at the stadium.

There really wasn't much going on. Most groups were in hiding at this point. Even those below the top sixteen were scared of venturing out, given how frequent the armband notifications rang out. Bakugou and Todoroki remained in the top two positions, somehow managing to procure armbands from other competitors on top of what they already had.

It seemed like that was going to be the case for the rest of the second event. The students would wait out the timer, hiding and running away from Nezu's rampage.

I wondered how the tournament would play out. I didn't foresee any of my favoured students getting high up in the tournament, but would they pass the first round? The second?

Before I knew it, the second event came to a close. Nothing else came close to the desperate last stand of the five students.

* * *

**Going to write the tournament proper soon, but I'm feeling really uncertain about it. I don't want to force a canon rehash (i.e. the triad of Shinsou vs Izuku, Izuku vs Todoroki, Todoroki vs Bakugou while everyone else's matchups don't factor in at all), so I'm planning to just use a random generator and write what could happen based on that. Of course, it might be a massive flop once again. I must admit, the tournament bit isn't something that really interests me greatly. One-on-one fights aren't my favourite area to read, especially in the context of Shonen powers.**

**Anyone in opposition to me basically foregoing the canon triad and the whole echoes of OfA/Izuku-Todoroki itsyourpower pep-talk/some other things I might have forgotten? **

**If you're adamantly against it... well, I've written up what the beginning of it _could _look like as the next chapter. Take a look, if you want.**

**Hopefully it's at least somewhat readable. Otherwise, it goes into the trash bin where everything else goes to die. (cough cough Chapter 3 when I finally get back to it cough cough)**


	9. The Boring Tournament

**So here's part two of the double update (potentially to be deleted) for what I've written for the random bracket that's been drawn up. People aren't probably going to be big fans of it, and I may scrap this chapter before I get lynched or something. It's a very rough sketch of what might happen if I continue with this, basically written without a plan in mind.**

* * *

**Chapter 9: The Boring Tournament**

With the end of the second event, students had been brought back to assemble once again in the stadium. I watched as the few individuals that caught my interest returned, slightly worse for the wear but still eager for the tournament to come.

Neito, Kinoko, Hatsume, Shoji and Jirou were greeted by waves of applause at they made their way back, having recovered minutes after being put down by Nezu's weaponry. An official had been sent to check on them, then to bring them back following the end of the event. They looked bewildered, probably unaware of just how much attention had been placed on them, although Hatsume did seize the opportunity to give yet another sales pitch.

I turned to look at the sheet of paper now being held in Hizashi's hands, detailing the finalised list of the top sixteen students who made it through the first two events. Todoroki and Bakugou were obvious shoe-ins; the six that remained of Setsuna's and Izuku's teams won their place through sacrifice. The other eight weren't quite so obvious favourites, but most had been reasonably expected to progress far.

Iida had maintained his point lead, employer his Mover abilities to get away from Nezu even when caught by surprise. Similarly, Tokoyami's quirk enabled him to avoid Nezu completely. Yaoyorozu had devised crafty plans and carefully tracked Nezu's position, allowing her to continue taking down robots while still evading the principal. Shinsou most mostly laid low, taking easy pickings wherever he could with his Master quirk.

The others were a bit of a surprise. Kirishima, Tetsutetsu and Ojiro had been in the midst of a Brute battle when their armbands collectively called out Nezu being in the vicinity. This was sufficient for them to temporarily agree to a cease-fire, banding together while they ran away. As they talked, Brute-logic had somehow dictated that they stuck together for the rest of the event. Mina had miraculously lucked out during the event, placed precariously at the sixteenth position by virtue of higher ranked students being eliminated.

"ALRIGHT! Welcome back, students! I hope you've had fun during the second event! Without further ado, let's take a look at the TOP SIXTEEN!"

As Hizashi gave the go-ahead for the scoreboard to be displayed on the main screens, I snuck a peek at the students below. Setsuna looked to be berating an indignant Neito while Pony was animatedly chatting with Kinoko, while the other two members of their team watched the former with uncertainty. Izuku and Uraraka seemed to be repeatedly apologising to Jirou and Shoji, who were desperately trying to wave off the tide of words coming from their mouths.

"You can go talk to them, you know," Aizawa said. "There's thirty minutes until the next event. You don't really need to be up here until the tournament begins."

He was really observant, with a way of sneaking up on me that made me question whether or not he secretly had a Stranger element to his quirk.

"You sure?" I asked.

He waved me away, taking a seat in the commentator's booth, leaning back deeply into the chair.

Wait, was he _asleep_?

No sense thinking about it any further. Aizawa could be really odd at times. Slowly, I made my way towards the students.

"Taylor-chan!" Setsuna spotted me first, ceasing her scolding of Neito. "You're here! You're looking for us? Oh, is it because we're your favourites? I bet it is! Did you see us in the events?"

Then, she turned to look sideways at Neito, face turning into a glare. "Did you see what this _idiot _and the _other idiot _did?"

"I helped you guys get away from Nezu!" Neito protested.

"You sacrificed yourself, you idiot! You aren't supposed to do that!"

"Relax, Setsuna. It was just an exercise. Good work, all of you," I said.

"Sure, it's just an exercise _now,_ but against a real villain –"

"I only did it because it's _Nezu_," Neito explained in exasperation. "I wouldn't have done it otherwise. I'm not an idiot, you know?"

"You say that now, but –"

"It's different out in the field. Every bit of hesitation and doubt you had? You'll feel it a hundred times worse," I said, cutting her off.

Their argument paused. The group turned to face me, the other four included.

"How do you know that?" Setsuna asked.

"I've been there. Good work against the Nezu-bot by the way, Neito, Kinoko."

"You can't just say something like that and not expect us to ask you about it!"

"There's not much to talk about. It's a hard call to make, but it's the right one," I shrugged. There was no way I was going to explain all my experiences against forces ranging from the likes of Lung to godlike alien parasite seeking to destroy humanity. They wouldn't believe me, anyway.

"So you approve, then!" Neito caught on, turning to face Setsuna. "I told you! It's what Taylor-san would have done!"

"You would have done that, Taylor-chan?" Pony asked.

I sighed. How could I explain it? "If I were in Neito's shoes? Yeah. If I were in yours, I wouldn't want him to. It's a selfless kind of selfishness."

That appeared to finally frame the conundrum in some way that they could understand, because they didn't continue arguing any further. Either that, or I had just successfully confused them. Regardless, either possibility served its purpose; they would need time to settle into the right headspace for the tournament.

"So! Taylor-chan! What do you think about the tournament? Got any tips for us?" Setsuna hurriedly asked. It seemed like she didn't want to dwell on that topic any further.

"I can't directly give you any information on the other students, but just remember what I said on Friday. Fight smart, don't play fair, exploit every weakness you can."

"You say that, but how do we even go up against someone like Todoroki? Seriously, his score is insane!"

I shrugged. "I can't tell you, and you know your quirk best, anyway. Just try your best. It doesn't matter how high you place here anyway."

"Huh? Isn't the point of this to get as high a ranking as we can to attract Pro Heroes?" Pony asked, confused.

They didn't know yet? Right, they'd only just got back.

"You haven't been looking at social media yet, have you?" I asked rhetorically.

She shook her head. Setsuna took the chance to dig out her phone, scrolling through whatever it was that was analogous to Parahumans Online in this world.

Apparently, humans were equally unproductive on this world as my own. Hizashi had showed me no less than five memes featuring Neito going up against the Nezu-bot, all created within the last fifteen minutes.

"Holy crap, Monoma-san! You're famous!" Setsuna shouted, the rest moving in close to take a look at her phone. I did so as well.

Oh, that one. That was the first one Hizashi showed me. It featured Neito as Gandalf, taking on a Nezu-Balrog hybrid. He hurriedly snatched the phone away, turning it off, cheeks reddening rapidly. Funny, I thought that he would have revelled in the attention.

"Wow, Monoma-san!" Pony gushed.

"That's not fair, why aren't there any on my mushrooms?!"

The rest continued to pester him, Itsuka taking out her own phone. As she scrolled, her eyebrows remained raised for a long time.

Finally, I decided to take pity on him. "It's not just about the memes. They showed the five of you up on the main screen for a long time, you know. You captured a lot of attention with that."

"Really?" he questioned, finally being given a break from the others' teasing.

I nodded. "Not just for the five of you. People saw how close your team was and how unwilling all of you were to let Neito sacrifice himself for your sakes. That's going to be a plus point in your favour. Not to mention you'll get more time to showcase your talents during my exercise later."

"That's right!" Setsuna jumped. "We've still got Taylor-chan's crazy mission to do! Monoma-san, you better not pull off anything like that again!"

Hurriedly, he nodded, although probably only because she wouldn't stop pestering him otherwise. "Anyway, take the time to rest now. The four of you have tough fights ahead."

"You're leaving?" Setsuna pouted.

"Just for a while. I need to talk to a few more people, then I'll be back."

With that, I departed, spotting my next target easily. His distinctive hair wasn't exactly inconspicuous.

Shinsou had caught my attention, and not just because of his Master power. Aizawa mentioned that he was aspiring to transfer to the hero course. I needed to get a sense of his personality, since the first two events probably only captured how he was like in the field. Was his usage of his quirk because he was willing to use it to do what was necessary as I had done with my power, or was he simply using his power without understanding the repercussions of his actions?

"Hey," I called out to him, reaching for his back.

He turned, startled for a moment, before schooling his expression into one of boredom. I couldn't quite tell just what he was thinking, but his closed-off attitude was more akin to the capes I was used to than the rest of the students that I'd met.

"You're Taylor-san," he stated. "The teaching assistant."

"Yeah. Shinsou, right?"

He nodded slowly, studying me carefully. This was something I was used to.

"You did well in the first two rounds. Congratulations."

His eyes narrowed, examining every single word I said. "And?"

"Aizawa mentioned that you might be interested in transferring to the hero course. Is that the case?"

Again, he slowly nodded. "The top students from the general education course can get transferred if they place high in the Sports Festival."

"Okay. Good. I'll be keeping an eye on you," I told him. "You've got potential. A little rusty around the edges, but potential nonetheless."

That seemed to faze him a little, but the distrust returned with fervour. "What? Not going to say anything about my villainous quirk? Or have you already told your students about my quirk?"

I could have laughed. Villainous quirk? Really? Did he _know_ who he was talking to? I sighed. "Do you even know my quirk?"

"You control butterflies, I've seen the videos –"

"I control bugs," I interrupt. "All sorts of bugs. Not just insects, but spiders, worms and crabs. Black widows, brown recluses, bullet ants, maggots, and more. In exercises, I use butterflies, but I'm diversifying. When I'm out doing actual fieldwork, I use them _all_."

That gave him pause. "You use black widows?"

"That, and more. Only if I know they can take their venom, of course. I go for the eyes, mouth, nose and ears. I cram bugs wherever I can if it helps me in my work. Point is, there's no such thing as a villainous quirk," I explained patiently, although I was beginning to lose even that. _Why_ was this such a hard thing to grasp on this world?

He didn't quite know how to respond. It took several moments before he spoke. "But aren't you a hero?"

"You know what? I'm going to have to give your class the same lecture I gave 1-A at some point. The salient message is that quirks don't matter," I said. "All Might can destroy city blocks with a punch. He doesn't. I can bring an infestation the likes of which has never been seen in history. I choose not to."

"I _brainwash_ people," he told me slowly, as though speaking to a small child. "That's all my quirk does."

Again, I could have laughed. The way his quirk worked was but a drop in the ocean compared to what I had done as Khepri. "You used that to capture villains today. Fake ones, but that should give you an idea of what you can do with training. Equally, you _could_ go full villain, maybe order someone to kill their loved ones –"

"I wouldn't do that!" He protested immediately.

"Good for you. What I'm saying is don't let your quirk define you. Anyway, good luck in the tournament. Don't worry, no one knows what you can do. Even most of those in the audience probably can't tell, unless they're able to lip-read; you spoke too softly for the microphones. As far as they're aware, you somehow got the villains to stop resisting, but I doubt most of them know how it was done."

I stared at him. When it seemed he had nothing further to add, I nodded and turned away.

"Wait!"

I hid my smile as I turned back. That tactic always got people to talk more.

"Why are you helping me?"

I shrugged. "Personal interest, I suppose. I saw how you handled the events. I don't quite know everything about you, but I'd say we might have some similar experiences. We Masters got to stick together."

"Masters?" He looked at me with confusion.

"I'll have to tell you another time. Both the hero classes already know, but if you're seriously planning to switch over to the hero course it'll be beneficial for you as well. Find me after the tournament, or I'll contact you somehow. Either way, good luck."

With that, I nodded again, making my way back to my students.

For an initial reading of his personality, that wasn't too bad. I probed his intentions, and it _did _seem that he was against things like senseless killing. A little shut off, quite like the villains I'd recruited during my time in the wards. How exactly had I convinced Mockshow to become Romp again?

"I wouldn't have taken him for your type, Taylor-chan!" Setsuna greeted, staring at Shinsou.

"He's just someone of interest," I denied.

She blinked, then grinned. I immediately regretted my poor choice of words.

"He intends to transfer to the hero course," I corrected myself. "I may be helping him in that regard."

"Our Taylor-chan, always looking out for those around her!" she mock-sobbed. "What did we ever do to deserve an angel like you?"

"Enough, Tokage-san," Itsuka sighed.

"You've only got another ten or so minutes. How do you feel?" I changed the subject.

"Honestly? I'm just waiting for it to be over. Not being pessimistic or anything, but none of us really have what it takes to make it into the finals," Setsuna said candidly, leaning back against the wall.

That was a fairly accurate assessment, not that I was going to verbalise my agreement. "You can't be sure about that."

She snorted. "Come on, Taylor-chan, you're the one who told us on Friday that we kind of suck individually."

Did I really say that? I tried to remember. My message was more to encourage them to think out of the box and adapt with their quirks, but it could have gotten lost in translation.

"Just try your best. As I said, how far you go doesn't matter."

"Yeah, yeah. I can't wait for your exercise, you know? Any hints you can give us? Will there be any more spiders?" She snickered at Kinoko. "Just so I can get my camera ready if Kinoko-chan –"

"Tokage-san!" she whined. "It was the _one_ time!"

"Get ready for something big," I told them instead. Immediately, they became alert. "The teaching showcase isn't just for me, it's about you guys as well. I'm going to be testing you all out there."

"Something big?" she repeated. "What do you mean?"

"It's a surprise. I've got to be back with Hizashi and Aizawa before the tournament begins. Good luck, and I'll see you all later."

"Taylor-chan! You can't just leave us hanging like that! Come on!"

Setsuna continued whining while the rest waved their goodbyes. Neito and Kinoko left as well, departing for the stands where they would watch the tournament play out.

-o-o-o-

"You're back!" Hizashi exclaimed needlessly.

"Have the brackets come out yet?" I asked instead.

"Yup. Take a look! Rather interesting, don't you think?"

I studied the sheet of paper where they had been drawn up, giving each matchup a quick analysis.

Iida Tenya vs Midoriya Izuku

Todoroki Shouto vs Shinsou Hitoshi

Pony Tsunotori vs Kirishima Eijiro

Ojiro Mashirao vs Uraraka Ochaco

Tokage Setsuna vs Shiozaki Ibara

Ashido Mina vs Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu

Tokoyami Fumikage vs Yaoyorozu Momo

Kendou Itsuka vs Bakugou Katsuki

"This was randomly generated, wasn't it?" I asked after a minute, still looking at the brackets.

"You can tell?" Hizashi asked. "How?"

"They're all unsatisfying matchups. Ridiculously terrible for the crowd to enjoy, probably going to bore them a lot, but excellent for educational purposes."

"What do you mean?"

"The matches will be decided almost immediately. Take the first one, for example. A clean hit by Izuku's quirk would probably eliminate Iida, otherwise he wins easily. I don't think I even _need_ to explain how Todoroki against Shinsou could potentially lead to an instant upset."

"Should they be changed?" he asked worriedly. "I can ask Nezu for permission."

"Personally, I wouldn't. They'll be good for their learning. It depends whether you care more about how the audience will react or about the students."

"What did you mean by educational?" Aizawa asked, cutting into our conversation.

"Take…" I looked at the matchups. "Uraraka versus Ojiro, for example. Uraraka probably wins if she gets her quirk going, but Ojiro is well-trained. He knows how to read her movements. It'll teach her to work on her technique. Likewise, Tokoyami against Yaoyorozu depends on whether Yaoyorozu chooses to exploit his weaknesses. She could create a high-powered flashlight or something similar to cripple his quirk, but if she tries her standard tactics she's going to lose handily."

"That sounds really underwhelming," Hizashi pointed out.

"Like I said. Unsatisfying."

"Well, break's over. We've run out of time now," Hizashi said in resignation. "Guess we'll have to go with this."

With that, he returned to the commentator's seat, turning on the microphone. "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! STUDENTS! HEROES ONE AND ALL! We hope you've had a good break and are ready for more, because the tournament is about to begin!"

Cheers rang out, only dying out once Hizashi began to speak once more. "Without further ado, let us have a look at the brackets!"

As they appeared on the screen, there was a brief moment of silence while students and audience members alike studied them, before scattered murmuring appeared within the crowd. My bugs very distinctively felt Setsuna and Ibara turn to look at one another, although they couldn't quite hear what was being said.

Hizashi allowed them several more moments before continuing. "RIGHT! As you can see, the first match is between Iida Tenya and Midoriya Izuku, both of class 1-A! Iida gave a great showing in the first two events, showcasing his speed and versatility in taking down robots! Midoriya won our hearts with his brilliant organisation of the rescue team and willingness to cooperate against the Nezu-bot! Will Iida take it all, or will Midoriya win it for the teammates that gave up their chances for him? Will their friendship be tested in the ring? Who will prevail? Contestants, make your way to the preparation area!"

I tracked their movements with my bugs. The final sixteen had been placed in a holding area away from the crowd, with the centre of the stadium completely empty. Their nerves were clearly being showed through my insects, detecting the minute vibrations of their bodies. Despite that, Iida and Izuku moved to opposite corners of the stadium on each side of the tournament ring that had been set up by Cementoss.

Intruigingly, All Might was making his way toward Izuku. What could he have to say?

I hesitated for only a moment before surreptitiously sending some insects in, hiding along the shadows of the dark tunnel and smallest cracks in the wall. If I was caught, I could always come up with something else, anyway. No one knew I could listen through my bugs just yet.

Something fishy was going on, and I would find out what it was.

-o-o-o-

"Young Midoriya!"

Izuku turned. Since when had All Might been standing there? Had he been so lost in thought he simply missed his mentor's presence?

"All Might-sensei!"

"You did well in the first two events. You should be proud of yourself!" The skeletal form of All Might flashed him a grin. "How's your finger now?"

"Recovery Girl managed to heal it during the break, but…" Izuku hesitated. How was he supposed to fight _Iida?_ He hadn't even been able to hit the students from 1-B, and they weren't anywhere near as fast as him!

"Yes, Young Midoriya?" All Might encouraged.

"One for All… I can't control it properly. You saw when we fought Tokage-san's team in the second event, right?" All Might nodded, so he continued. "I couldn't do anything there. Tokage-san saw through my attack immediately, and I can't regulate One for All well enough to keep my bones from breaking. How am I supposed to fight Iida-san?"

"My boy…" All Might shook his head. "I can't give you any easy answers. I didn't have any issue taking to One for All when my mentor passed it down to me. What I _can_ tell you is that I'm proud of you."

He stepped closer. "I was wrong, earlier. I told you that you had to excel at the Sports Festival, to tell the world 'I am here!' Young Midoriya, today you have already done that."

"Huh?"

"We all saw you organising your fellow students in the first event. You didn't care whether or not they were heroes. They were just students, waiting for the event to end. You gave them a purpose. You put them up to the task at hand, and they believed in you. I'm not sure if even _I_ could have done that." He stared right in Izuku's eyes, and he couldn't bear to turn away. "That's what being a Hero worthy of becoming the 'Symbol of Peace' is about. Today, you took the first step. This tournament doesn't matter. So go, Young Midoriya. No matter what happens, today, the world will see – no, _has _seen you."

"You've been giving your all in the first two events. Continue what you've been doing. I'll be watching your fight. Good luck." With the pep-talk done, All Might moved back, heading back toward the staircase leading to the stands.

Izuku breathed deeply. All Might was right. He'd done all that he could. All that mattered now was giving his best.

With that, he entered the stadium, greeted by shouts and cheers from the audience. Iida was already standing on his side of the ring, giving Izuku a calming smile.

"Midoriya-san!" he greeted while Izuku made his way to his own side of the ring. "No matter what, let's do our best!"

Typical Iida. Izuku nodded.

"ALRIGHT! Now that both competitors are in place, let's review the rules of the tournament!" Present Mic boomed. "Win by knocking your opponent out of the ring, immobilising them or getting them to say 'I give up!' Beyond that, there are no rules! ARE OUR CONTESTANTS READY?"

Izuku stared hard at Iida's legs. _Iida's quirk is based on movement, cripple or otherwise dodge if possible._ Easier said than done, of course.

"BEGIN!"

With that, Iida burst into motion. Izuku was just barely able to dodge to one side, stumbling into a clumsy roll. He couldn't see Iida, but with his speed he shouldn't be able to change directions that quickly. He pushed himself up, turning around –

The rush of air registered a split second before Iida's leg whirled around to kick him, sending him airborne. Izuku panicked as Iida pressed on, legs bent low as he prepared to jump.

The moment Iida caught him, it would be over. He didn't have a choice. Izuku aimed, felt the energies of One for All build up in the very tips of his index finger, and flicked.

His target twisted at the very last instant, bounding off to the side instead. Was it all a feint? Iida knew how Izuku fought, after all. He knew just how destructive Izuku's quirk was.

"Sorry, Midoriya-san, but I can't lose here!" Iida declared, engines charging up once more.

Another flick, another spike of pain. Another finger broken.

Another dodge.

What could he do?

With Iida's assault halted, Izuku was able to return to the ground, dangerously close to the ring boundary. Hurriedly, he moved forward, keeping his fingers aimed at Iida as he dashed in circles around Izuku.

Iida's speed was too fast; he couldn't keep track of him. Again, another kick landed, this time sending Izuku sliding across the ground. The force of his own strike sent Iida backward, feet pressing hard in the ground as he prepared to advance yet again. Hurriedly, Midoriya moved to stand, holding his fingers out again.

He was standing near the edge now. Another strike would surely take him out.

He couldn't get a clean hit on Iida at all. Two fingers were down, eight were left. Iida arrested his momentum, turning to face Izuku once more, already mid-charge.

He didn't have any good options. All he had was his best chance.

He held both hands out, spreading the fingers of both hands out before bringing them in. Then, he gathered the energy of his inherited quirk, building it up on _all_ of his remaining fingertips.

He flicked all eight of them. He only registered one spike of pain.

At the very edge of the arena, he would have the smallest possible angle from which Iida could approach from afar. That was his reasoning, at least. By all accounts, this would be his best shot at victory, no matter how much damage it did.

It wasn't enough.

Somehow, Iida read through his desperate play, leaping into the air and dodging the shockwave of force that flew from his fingertips. In the distance, Cementoss hastily erected several concrete pillars that shattered against the shockwaves.

_It's over. Sorry, All Might._

Iida's kick landed, sending him backward. It was over.

-o-o-o-

I probably didn't pay as much attention as I should have to the fight between Izuku and Iida, given what I'd learned just moments before. I should probably feel guilty over the fact that I'd spied on them with my bugs, but I would be lying if I said I did. This was important information.

One for All? An inherited quirk? One that apparently had been passed down to All Might, and then from All Might to Izuku?

I had some bad experiences with inherited powers. Teacher, for one, granted Thinker and Tinker powers at the cost of his minion's mental faculties and undying loyalty to himself. The Butcher passed on their powers and combined minds to the one who killed them each time they died, driving each inheritor insane. It was only through our schemes using Cherish's power that we ever put them down for good, sealed away with Cherish's body deep below Brockton Bay.

At least this one didn't seem to corrupt the user's mental state, based on what I could tell from my interactions with All Might. Still, I would need to investigate this further.

Did that also mean that Izuku had been quirkless prior to meeting All Might? It would explain the destructive nature of his quirk. But by All Might's own admission, he didn't have any difficulty, and he presumably should be quirkless as well.

I didn't quite know what to do with this information. I could see why they were so secretive with the information, though. Not everyone should be getting hold of a quirk of that sort of destructive power. For now, I would keep what I'd learned to myself.

"Taylor-san?" Hizashi asked.

"Hmm?"

"I've been calling you a few times now! You're distracted at work!" he rebuked playfully. "Anyway, what did you think of that match?"

"Honestly? It went quite how I expected. Izuku couldn't hit Iida, his final act of desperation didn't work, so he lost," I recounted.

"Sounds so simple when you put it like that," he said. "The audience loved the final use of his quirk, though."

"I'm fairly sure that most of them just enjoy watching things explode." From experience, the talk on Parahumans Online back on Earth Bet had revolved around capes with flashy powers. I was almost completely certain that it was the same case here.

"How do you think Izuku is doing?" he questioned.

Again, my bugs were still tracking him. "He's on the way to the medical bay, I'm guessing. I don't know where it is, but they're moving him toward Chiyo."

"Still creepy."

I ignored him.

"Anyway, what about the next match? Shinsou versus Todoroki?" he asked instead.

I smiled. "Shinsou wins, hands down, unless someone spilled how his quirk works."

"Going for the upset, then?" Hizashi shook his head. "Poor kid. Wonder how he'll take it."

"It'll teach him to beware of Masters, at least," I shrugged. "Powers aren't fair. Deal with it."

"A little harsh, but a fair point, I suppose. Are we all ready?"

I nodded, and by my side I felt Aizawa do the same.

"Alright then." He moved to turn on the feed once more.

"ALRIGHT! THAT WAS AN EXPLOSIVE FIRST ROUND, BUT NOW WE MOVE ON TO THE SECOND! We have Todoroki Shouto of class 1-A, the son of the hero Endeavour himself! Possibly the strongest first year student, keeping first position in both events today! On the other side, we have Shinsou Hitoshi of class 1-C, a General Education student seeking to transfer to the hero course! Will overwhelming might prevail? Will Todoroki continue in his clean sweep of the first two events? Or will pride and determination make Shinsou's dreams a reality? Will he show us just how much he wants to be a hero? TODOROKI SHOUTO AND SHINSOU HITOSHI, INTO THE RING!"

-o-o-o-

Shinsou was nervous, but he was also determined. This was his chance. Taylor had said that no one knew what his quirk was. He didn't quite know whether or not to believe her, but he couldn't see any reason for her to lie.

Todoroki Shouto. _Of course_ Shinsou knew about him. He was one of the most talked-about students; the pride of the hero course, the Son of Endeavour, the future Number One Hero and who knew how many other titles. Hero course, general studies, management and support course students alike knew about him. Even _future applicants_ to UA knew about him. Shinsou wouldn't lie and say that he wasn't jealous of his opponent's success.

Who wouldn't be? He had a flashy quirk, a respected legacy and everything that came with it. Meanwhile, Shinsou had to struggle with his own quirk being labelled as villainous and everything that came with _that_. Sure, some of his classmates understood, but almost everyone else didn't.

It wasn't fair. He would show just how unfair it was.

He stepped up into the ring. Todoroki was already in place.

Right, time to analyse his opponent. Plenty of attention, a lot of expectations placed upon him, a powerful and attention-grabbing quirk. Hero material.

"Hey, Todoroki!" he shouted. The match hadn't started, but hey, Present Mic did say that 'beyond that, there are no rules', right?

His opponent didn't reply. Did he not even consider him as worthy of a response? "What's wrong, Todoroki? Am I not good enough for you? Won't respond to the general studies student? Or could it be you're scared of me? Scared I'll beat you here?"

"I'm making it to the finals. There's no way I'll lose here," he finally forced out.

Well. That was easy.

"Uh… Contestants, are you ready?" Present Mic called out.

Shinsou nodded. This had to be timed perfectly. He tensed, waiting for the command.

"Begin!"

_Now_. "Stop!"

Ice was midway surging toward him before his quirk finally took effect. Damn, Todoroki was _quick_.

He still won, though.

"Stop. Turn around. Walk past the boundary of the arena, then take another five steps forward."

He was prepared for any sort of upset. He wouldn't put it past someone disrupting his quirk by throwing an object into Todoroki or otherwise startling him. His classmates knew the limits of his quirk, after all, and not everyone liked him.

No such thing happened. Todoroki continued walking, before finally stumbling as the order was completed. He couldn't quite see Todoroki's face, but based on how quickly he turned around he caught on far quicker than most.

Silence.

There was shock. Rage. Humiliation.

Emotions that Shinsou knew well.

"You…"

"It's nothing personal, Todoroki-san. _I_ intend to continue on as well."

"TODOROKI SHOUTO HAS STEPPED OUT OF BOUNDS! With that, Shinsou Hitoshi is the winner!"

The jeers came. Why should he have expected anything less? People were all the same.

He turned around, walking back to the holding area for the tournament finalists.

"Shinsou! You did great!" One of his classmates shouted, cheering for him. It was drowned out by the rest of the audience.

_Quirks don't matter. Don't let your quirk define you._

Why was it so hard?

-o-o-o-

"You going to run damage control on that one?" I asked Aizawa.

Todoroki was still looking stunned, standing unmoving from where Shinsou's order had sent him. I would have pitied him, but he needed the lesson. From where I was, I could see Endeavour standing up, shouting at Shinsou's retreating figure. The jeers hadn't lessoned one bit. I might have underestimated just how much the crowd either loved Todoroki, or hated Shinsou and his quirk.

Of course, not everyone in the crowd was against Shinsou. Several students that I assumed were his classmates were looking around uncertainly, while multiple heroes in the audience were in deep consideration. It was mostly the overwhelming public that was letting their ignorance show.

Aizawa sighed. "Yeah. Will you two be alright up here?"

I nodded. "Hizashi's doing all the hard work, and there's not much to comment on for these matches, anyway. Like I said; unsatisfactory."

"I'd better get to him before Endeavour does. I'll see you in a while."

With that, he left the booth. Careful not to alert him, I tagged Endeavour with just a few more bugs. In the outraged state that he was currently in, he didn't pay any attention at all. It would probably be best to give Aizawa a warning if Endeavour was going to be approaching them.

"ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT! Let's have a moment to recover from that surprise! And what a surprise it was! Who knew that Shinsou Hitoshi would be capable of taking down the unstoppable Todoroki Shouto all by himself?" Present Mic was trying to placate the crowd. It really wasn't working.

He sighed, leaning back into his chair. "We really should have switched the brackets, huh?"

I shook my head. "Had to be done. Best that he learns now, rather than in the middle of a fight."

He snorted. "You're a pessimistic one, aren't you?"

"It's not just for Todoroki's sake. Shinsou needs to learn how to portray his power. He could have downplayed his quirk. I don't know the full details of how it works, but he could perhaps have tried to send an order for Todoroki not to use his quirk and orchestrate a fight. If it's just verbal commands, maybe make it seem more limited in scope than what he did. If it works like some powers from my world where there's a memory gap while Mastered, he could try playing at that, get his opponent confused. Hell, maybe try ordering his opponent to sleep, instead of the control he just showed. It doesn't matter now, though."

"That's a _lot_ of thought you put into this."

"I'm a Master, and I've had a Master as a teammate. I know how people treat us."

He sighed. "How are we going to handle this?"

I closed my eyes, thinking of how to salvage this. The jeers were still continuing.

There needed to be some Glenn-Chambers level of bullshit and a ridiculous positive spin over the events that just occurred for them to get over the total upset. People hated Master powers. Their fear was only feeding into their disappointment over the outcome of the match, becoming distilled into anger.

I remembered Canary. The singer Paige McAbee, whose songs made anyone listening susceptible to suggestions. She'd accidentally compelled her boyfriend to maim himself during an argument when he'd taken a retaliatory insult as an order to be followed literally. Her trial had been a sham one, being sentenced to the Birdcage without a chance to defend herself.

What went wrong there?

It was obvious. She didn't have a voice. The public fed on their own fears.

"Turn on the microphone and ask me what I thought of what just happened."

At the same time, I located Shinsou through my bugs. I made them fly in front of him frenziedly, and he paused in surprise. Some wariness was there, based on how he tensed up. I called over some more bugs, spelling out words. _Follow. Taylor Hebert._

"Huh?" Hizashi asked. "You sure?"

"Yeah," I nodded. _Not at all._ "We need to run interference. Honestly, I'm more worried for Shinsou than Todoroki now."

"Okay then, if you think you can do it," he agreed slowly. "WHAT A COMPLETE TURN OF EVENTS! What did you think of all that, Taylor-san?"

For just a moment, the jeers lessened in intensity. Endeavour turned, and I could see the look of rage on his face. I had to strike now. Even if I failed, at least some of the audience's hate would be directed to me instead. Dilute it up, and it'll fade quicker. Aizawa was by Todoroki's side, trying to get him to follow him out of the arena.

"Shinsou Hitoshi used his quirk. I wouldn't have done anything different."

The jeers returned, stronger now, only directed at me. _Play along,_ I wrote on a sheet of paper. He nodded with just a slight hint of hesitation.

"What do you mean, Taylor-san?"

"Put yourself in his shoes. You're a General Education student, looking to impress the teachers to be transferred to the hero course. You're up against Todoroki Shouto, one of the top students in your year. No one knows about your quirk. What are you thinking now?"

_Don't answer yet. Say that you don't know. Ask for answer. Wait for signal, _I wrote as I talked. He nodded.

I looked at the crowd, feeling their movements through my bugs. Thousands of spectators, but I had thousands of sensitive bugs. There was the ever so slightest shift in body language. Some of them were thinking, at least. Good. A few more shifting, some reverting back to how they were. The slightest of tension –

'_Now_.' A voice that was and wasn't mine informed me. Administration again? Was she reading and processing the senses of my bugs? Constructing a mental model of their emotive state?

I tapped the paper.

"I don't know. What _are _you thinking?"

I didn't know if it was part of the scripted question, or if he was genuinely curious. It didn't matter.

"I would be thinking that this is my only time to shine. Once I use my quirk in front of the audience, it will be obvious how it works. Who better a target than Todoroki Shouto, son of Endeavour, the star of the first years?"

_Fake laugh_. _Ease tension_.

Present Mic complied.

It was a bit of a cheap shot, and a blind one, playing at Endeavour's emotions and name. But the many bugs I had hidden on his person informed me that the tension had decreased, and now he was looking right at me. Almost like cold-reading, and I had plenty of experience of being put under that by Lisa and Alexandria. Todoroki himself was also staring at me. I didn't quite know much about him, having not directly interacted with him outside of a few classes, All Might's initial Heroics class being one of them.

Contextualise. "Todoroki Shouto did the best he could. We all saw how he performed in the first two tasks. His only flaw here was misinformation. Likewise, Shinsou Hitoshi performed admirably. He had a quirk, and he used it. We saw how useful it was in the first two tasks. Imagine if instead of Todoroki, it was a villain. A murderer, perhaps. A serial killer, a destroyer of cities, or someone worse. I don't know about you, but I would want Shinsou Hitoshi to do exactly as he did moments before. Of course, I don't mean sending him out of bounds –"

_Orchestrated laugh._ Again, Present Mic complied. My bugs fed me information in real time once again. How was I even translating their body language? My own intuition, Administration, or whatever I took from Lisa?

"- but either restraining him or otherwise finding a way to incapacitate him."

_Shinsou coming. Bringing him with bugs. Staff entrance. Send him in when I say so._

He jerked, probably not expecting that particular use of my power.

I remembered Regent. He faked the true scope of his power, making his body-control seem more like jerking of muscles. The PRT hadn't thought of him as a huge threat, even when identified as his previous identity as Hijack when he continued to limit his abilities. After his puppeteering of Shadow Stalker, they began to actively consider him a danger.

What did the public know? They saw him say some words to Todoroki just before he walked out of the ring. There were too many ways for that display to be misconstrued.

"Make no mistake, Hizashi-sensei. Shinsou's quirk is powerful. But isn't that the nature of quirks? That someone unexpected could take down a powerhouse like Todoroki Shouto; for a very niche use of a specialised quirk under certain scenarios?"

"Yeah, Shinsou! Go!" Someone shouted; one of the students. Possibly a classmate?

I wrote down words on a sheet of paper, thinking up ideas while Shinsou approached. _Tell them who you are. Talk about quirk. Don't say name – Brainwashing bad connotation to public. Choose to fake details, if you want. Public scared of total control. Lie or downplay. Works only on target with heightened emotions? Only on males? Only on those of same age? Not orders, but suggestions – enhance subconscious thoughts of opponent? Suppress emotional drive? Motivation? Confusion? Potential to break out of effect when emotionally calm? Only works if emotions conflicted? Hard limits – time, complexity?_

Hell, with the picture I was beginning to build based on contextual clues left by Aizawa and Endeavour's appeal to his own pride? I could see Todoroki possibly having had some deep, subliminal thoughts of throwing the tournament just to spite his father. A believable lie.

Shinsou was nearing now. _Now_, I wrote, circling the word several times. Hizashi stood up, moving to open the door.

With that, he entered, standing uncomfortably by my side, staring at the crowd in front of him. There were no jeers now, not yet. They were willing to listen, to contextualise; something that Canary had never got the chance to do.

"But of course, who better to hear from than Shinsou Hitoshi himself?"

Being sure not to allow the public to see, I showed him the scrap of paper.

"Would you like to tell us a bit about yourself and your quirk, Shinsou-san?"

* * *

**So that's how it could go. I wrote it up and tried seeing how it could evolve based on the generated bracket. I'll leave it up for awhile and take a short break from writing, and if people aren't calling out for my blood I'll go on from there. Sorry Todoroki and Midoriya fans.**

**Going to be flying back home from university this Friday, so possibly no updates for some time (maybe just one if I decide to continue from here). Take the opportunity to get a palate cleanser ready; get the taste of this filthy fic out of your brains.**


	10. The Real World

**Important note: I'll preface this by saying that this is probably much, much worse than Chapter 3. **

**Following on from the note that began with Chapter 8, this is a continuation of what happens with the bracket that was randomly generated.**

**While writing this, I realised just how much I really hate describing one versus one fights, especially with physical powers. Thinker aspects are more my thing. Writing this in one sitting probably didn't help. The writing quality and matchups are, frankly speaking, terrible, and my frustration probably shows in the writing. At this point, I'm just rushing to get this over and done with before I lose all interest. Even after attempting randomisation, it somehow devolved into the actual same fights as canon, just dreadfully more boring. Now I see why the tournament arc is where so many fics end up dying.**

**It's… bad. I'm going to leave this up here for a bit. I might either get motivated enough to plan and rewrite these two chapters into something that doesn't make me want to tear my hair out, continue on from here, or send this off to the graveyard. I'll see how I feel over the next few days or weeks.**

**Edit 17/7: Thanks everyone who left reviews and PMs regarding this chapter. I'm going to be taking a break for a week (or more) to clear my head before continuing to write on this. Hopefully it will be half-decent. Cheers!**

* * *

**Chapter 10: The Real World**

Shinsou Hitoshi was feeling very conflicted.

He had heard the jeers of the crowd follow him since he left the stadium, of course. Some of his classmates supported him, but he didn't stay too long to note who they were. He had made it halfway back to the holding area for finalists, the shouts for his disqualification and vilification of his quirk not ceasing one bit.

Then the insects came, and Shinsou would be lying if he said he hadn't been scared shitless.

He had thought it to be some kind of attack from a disgruntled member of the audience, until he remembered that teaching assistant revealing her own quirk. Bug control, indeed. Just what kind of control did she have?

The insects flew in circles in front of him, then _rearranged themselves_ by hovering in midair to spell out words. At the same time, he could hear Taylor Hebert attempting to mollify the crowd, temporarily bringing an end to the audience's noise.

He had no idea what was going on, but he followed. Surely things couldn't get any worse?

Through the long walk that somehow allowed him to avoid coming into contact with anyone, snaking along long paths and shortcuts toward the staff entrance of the commentator's bay, he listened as Taylor and Present Mic gave commentary to the events just minutes before. She had defended him, gave the audience time to consider just how his quirk worked. She humanised him.

It wasn't hard to figure out what she was doing. He needed to know emotions well, after all, in order to find out how best to force someone to talk. Unhinging someone's mental state was easy. Restoring it to calmness was hard.

Somehow, she was attempting it. Was she confident, delusional, naïve or something else entirely?

Finally, he found himself just outside the door. Present Mic opened it before he could even knock. The older hero came him a reassuring smile, although Shinsou could see traces of uncertainty and nerves showing on his face.

Then Taylor spoke. "But of course, who better to hear from than Shinsou Hitoshi himself?"

What?

He was so stunned that he almost missed her discreetly gesturing at a piece of paper with several lines of text written on it.

That… what?

_Faking_ his quirk? Downplaying what he could do? Misdirecting and obscuring just how it worked? Never mind the current predicament he found himself in, how had she managed to come up with all of that? It wasn't just useful in the current situation, it would do wonders in the field if the true nature of his quirk was kept hidden. So long as people were smart enough to keep their mouth shut, he was pretty much quirkless.

How did this teaching assistant know that much? How had she even thought about all of that? How could she have known what he had experienced all his life?

"Would you like to tell us a bit about yourself and your quirk, Shinsou-san?"

How should he do this? He took a deep, calming breath in. It didn't help. "My name is Shinsou Hitoshi. My quirk…"

Once this was done, there was no turning back. He looked out into the public, facing the eyes of the vultures that had plagued him all his life. For a moment, he hesitated.

_A villain's quirk. Monster. Brainwasher. _

Should he lie?

The answer was obvious. Anything for the sake of his dreams. He would become a hero, even if it was based on a lie. This was it.

"My quirk works on someone emotional," he began. He read the sea of faces before him. They weren't immediately jumping to conclusions, something he never had the luxury of before. His classmates knew the truth, of course; he had disclosed it to some of them. They did not speak up.

Ideas came quickly, building upon Taylor Hebert's suggestions.

"It's why I need to rile up my opponents beforehand. People's decisions are altered by their emotions. When people feel multiple emotions at once, their choices may be vastly different. With my quirk, they make poorer decisions, and I verbalise suggestions for them to follow. These must be something emotionally driven that they have thought of, and I cannot fully suppress their primary motivating emotion if it's sufficiently powerful."

What else could he add? Misdirect and obfuscate? "For example, if someone feels overwhelming anger, I cannot suggest for him to do something based on sadness. It's a suggestion, nothing more. When in a calm state of mind, or if overwhelmingly in a single emotive state, it's completely useless. With it, I'm going to become a hero."

It was all lies, of course. Bullshit of the highest tier. He couldn't see what Present Mic or Taylor Hebert thought of it.

_Good job_, she wrote.

"But of course, Shinsou Hitoshi isn't a hero yet. He is a student, and one with great potential. It is why going forward, I will be working closely with him in my capacity as a teaching assistant. The other teachers will likewise be involved in his education."

_That_ surprised the crowd. Shinsou was no different.

What?

What just happened?

"Yeah! Shinsou! Woohoo!" He recognised those voices. His classmates supported him?

She cut off the feed to her own microphone, turning around to face him. Present Mic took over.

"And there we have it, ladies and gentlemen! Please, a round of applause for our Todoroki Shouto and Shinsou Hitoshi!"

The applause was limited, mostly coming from the enthusiastic efforts of a few. Not many actually supported him. But the jeers were lessened, at least.

"Sorry about that," Taylor said, rubbing her sole hand against her eyes. "I know it was a very spur-of-the-moment decision, but we needed to keep the crowd controlled. They'll probably be less angry knowing that you'll be trained on using your quirk. Good work describing your quirk, by the way."

That wasn't the point. Hell, he could have thanked her for that. "Did you mean what you said?"

"What, about training you?" He nodded. "I guess so. Your quirk – your _real_ quirk – has some huge limitations, but I've worked with similar ones before. It'll be annoying trying to get people to change how they view your quirk, but it can be done if you force yourself to use it in certain ways in the public eye. Trust me, I have been forced to use only _butterflies_ before."

Present Mic stifled a giggle, still speaking into the microphone. Shinsou didn't pay attention to his words.

"What happens now?"

"Now, you go back to the holding area. Follow my bugs. I highly doubt you'll win the next fight, but it will show the crowd that your power isn't absolute. They'll think that what happened with Todoroki was a fluke. After that, we'll see how to go about this. I don't actually have anything planned."

"Man, that was intense," Present Mic turned around, facing both him and Taylor. The crowd had settled down somewhat, and Todoroki had left with Aizawa-sensei. "Good job, kid. Sorry that all of that happened. Good luck on your next match."

Still in disbelief regarding the events of the past few minutes, Shinsou wordlessly followed the bugs as they led him back to the holding area.

-o-o-o-

"You really sure about taking him as a student?" Hizashi asked.

I nodded. "He seems decent enough, and I do have experiences with Masters. His mentality is close enough to some former villains I've worked with and mentored that I should be able to get to him. Besides, in the unlikely scenario that I've been reading him wrongly, it places me in a good position to take him out."

"I really don't think the words '_take him out' _should ever be applied to a student," he cautioned.

"You get my point. I'll be keeping my eye on him, keep him out of trouble. I'll need to work on Todoroki as well once Aizawa's done. Anyway, you'd better get the tournament going again. The crowd is starting to get rowdy."

He shook his head, then spoke once more. "ALRIGHT! Now that we're all ready again, let's begin the third match! We've seen Pony Tsunotori work with her team in the first two events, but how does she fare individually? We know how hard Kirishima Eijiro's fists are, and we saw how he banded together with Ojiro Mashirao and Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu in the second event! Will fist or horn prevail? CONTESTANTS, INTO THE RING!"

While the audience cheered as they made their way in, Pony's nervousness contrasting against Kirishima's excitement, Hizashi turned to face me again. "How do you think this will go? You'll be cheering for Pony-san, I'm guessing?

I shrugged. "I won't play favourites, but I think she'll win."

"Oh?" he asked, intrigued. "You think her horns can beat Kirishima's Hardening?

I shook my head. "Not about that. If she's smart, she wins."

"What do you mean?"

"Just watch," I insisted. I hoped what I told her on Friday stuck.

"Alright then," he said, doubt creeping into his voice. "Contestants, are you ready?"

Waiting just a few more seconds, he continued. "BEGIN!"

Instantly, Kirishima utilised his quirk, dashing in toward Pony. It was too late.

Pony had already generated and sent two horns flying up into the air, grabbing onto each one. She then made two more, balancing on top of them, high above Kirishima.

"HEY!" I could hear Kirishima shouting, disgruntled. "That's not fair!"

The audience were reacting similarly, pointing at Pony. Chuckles mixed with jeers. They didn't matter.

I smiled. She learned well.

"Hizashi?"

"You knew?" He sighed, before speaking for the benefit of Kirishima and the audience. "Pony-san's actions are within the rules, Kirishima-san."

"But that's –"

"Hey, Kirishima-san?" Pony began talking. He listened. "You took part in Taylor's exercise on Friday, right?"

"Yes, but how does that –"

"You know what Taylor said about my quirk?" she asked rhetorically, continuing without waiting for his response. "Don't fight a direct fight, exploit how the events work, don't fight fair, cheat if necessary, abuse the system and exploit my enemy's weaknesses. Sorry, Kirishima-san."

_That_ sent some looks toward me. Was Pony attempting to cause me some trouble? Regardless, I was proud that she learned how to fight smart.

"That's not manly!" he shouted, jumping on the spot, trying to get as high as he could. It was nowhere near high enough, Pony was floating _very_ high up.

"Welcome to the real world," she echoed my statements.

She sent one horn down below, prodding at Kirishima. He dodged quite skilfully, but was hit several times. Even so, it did virtually no damage.

"Hey! Cut it out!"

"Say you lose, and we can all go back."

"But –"

"I can wait up here a long time, you know." She began speaking to me in English. "Hey, Taylor! How's the weather up there?"

"What the hell have you been teaching your students?" Hizashi asked, exasperated.

"How the real world works," I said with a smile.

-o-o-o-

It took another five minutes before Kirishima saw that there was no way of getting to Pony and finally gave up. Pony flew down to the ground, looking apologetically at Kirishima.

"Sorry Kirishima-san, but I didn't have any other way to win."

He sighed, still indignant, but didn't otherwise react. With that, Pony returned to the holding area, while Kirishima moved to join his classmates at the stands.

The audience didn't react the same way they did with Todoroki and Shinsou, probably because both combatants had largely flown under the radar, not excelling in any particular aspect like Todoroki had. Sure, some of the audience obviously thought it wasn't fair, but most just shrugged and accepted the fact that bad matchups happened.

"Moving on," Hizashi said. "We've got Ojiro Mashirao up against Uraraka Ochaco, both of class 1-A! Will the aspiring martial arts hero take it with skill and technique? Or will gravity work against him in this battle? Can Uraraka continue on in the tournament for her teammates? Let us find out in this fourth match!"

The match played out entirely as I had expected. Uraraka had a potent Striker quirk, but her inexperience showed. She had moved cautiously initially, while Ojiro stood perfectly calm. Then, she lunged clumsily at Ojiro, while he simply sidestepped away and used his tail to send her flying out of the ring.

"I hate it when you're right," Hizashi groaned after pronouncing Ojiro as the victor. "We should have switched the brackets from the beginning."

"At least this way Uraraka knows to work on her technique. That form was terrible." It honestly was. I thought that I could have done a better job using what training Brian had given me in my time in the Undersiders, never mind after having continued my training in the Chicago Wards and working with Grace.

"Do you really have to be so harsh?" he winced. "She's just a student, you know."

"She's going to become a hero. _All_ of them are. They need to learn and correct their weaknesses before they pay the price out there. Anyway, you should get a move on. The audience is getting bored."

Hizashi sighed. "At least I can spice up the next one with some commentary. Who do you favour?"

"Hard to say. Setsuna's not going to be fast enough to blitz Ibara, but Ibara can't very easily capture her either. It's either going to become a battle of attrition where the hard limits of Setsuna's quirk comes into play, or either one of them makes a mistake that causes them to lose."

"We'll see, I guess," he shrugged. "ALRIGHT! Now it's time for Tokage Setsuna up against Shiozaki Ibara! Friends and comrades from class 1-B, they've been together through blood, sweat and tears in the first two events! Now, how will they fare when facing up against each other? Will their friendship be tested? Who will advance to the next round? Tokage and Shiozaki, enter the ring!"

-o-o-o-

Setsuna stared at Ibara, standing just opposite her on the other side of the arena.

"No hard feelings, Ibara-chan?"

She shook her head. "I bear no ill-feelings toward you, regardless of the outcome of the match. It is sinful to hold a grudge."

Then, she smirked. "Of course, I'm going to win."

Right, Setsuna decided. She had to go all out for this. Ibara was going down.

She took the moment to study her opponent. How would Ibara fight? Thus far, all their training had been done with Taylor's exercises, not having been used in a proper one-to-one battle. Ibara probably wouldn't deploy her Shaker field the same way she normally did.

Should she rush her from the start? That seemed to be a decent course of action.

Ibara was staring at her with equal intensity, probably thinking up a strategy of her own. They knew each other's quirks inside-out, having been exposed to them in class. This was going to be interesting.

"BEGIN!"

With that, Setsuna separated her arms and legs, sending her torso and head up into the sky. It wouldn't do good to make too many segments yet; she would lose if she was forced to regenerate them in the event that they remained separated for too long.

Ibara's hair grew rapidly, trailing across the entire floor of the arena. She wouldn't have safe ground to land if she needed to regenerate. This had to be decided soon. She sent her detached limbs flying at Ibara, but she had somehow formed a shield comprised entirely of hair in a sphere around herself, preventing her limbs from reaching her.

Setsuna hurriedly recalled her limbs away from Ibara's body. She _knew_ just how easily it was for objects like her limbs to be captured within those vines.

"_What a stunning first assault! Shiozaki withstands Tokage's opening barrage!"_

Think. What would Taylor do?

She couldn't make use of Pony's strategy, since she would eventually be forced to regenerate her limbs even if she could send her detached parts flying. How else could she exploit Ibara's weaknesses?

Ibara was already shifting her vines around, sending them into the air. Setsuna flew higher, cutting and reforming her body around vines as they reached and grabbed hold of her.

"_Tokage skilfully avoids becoming entrapped by Shiozaki's quirk by using her own quirk! What else will we see next?"_

Damn it, she was running out of time. Another few minutes, and she would probably be forced to land and reattach her legs. At that point, victory would be hard.

No choice, then. A full assault. Might as well make it dramatic.

She flew up high, recollecting her limbs toward herself, splitting herself into more segments. Ten parts of equal size flew in midair.

"_Tokage has chosen to fly up high into the sky! Does she have a plan? Will Shiozaki be able to defend against the upcoming assault?"_

Funny that Present Mic thought she had a plan. She was just as lost as Monoma probably had been when he faced the Nezu-bot.

Ibara reorganised her vines, contracting them in toward herself, wary of Setsuna's change of actions.

She thought Setsuna had a plan as well? Could she abuse that?

She allowed gravity to take hold of her, sending her parts plummeting to the ground.

"_Tokage plummets toward the ground! What is she thinking?"_

Ibara's vines were growing toward her falling body parts. She only had one chance at this. In mid-air, she arrested their momentum, sending them off to the side as Ibara misjudged the rate of her descent. Then, she sent the parts toward Ibara, staggering their timings and angles of approach.

She was currently working at ten segments out of a maximum of fifty. She split those ten as the vines came, attempting to rapidly split and merge between the vines. Taylor had called it akin to a Breaker state when she had demonstrated that during one of her exercises. It wasn't enough; even with her maximum of fifty segments, there were a _lot_ of vines coming at her. Most pieces of her were captured. Some managed to reach Ibara, but far too few to cause any effect. An arm managed to nudge her and force some movement, but by then the vines were sending captured segments out of the ring.

It was over. She lost.

-o-o-o-

He had _lost_?

One moment, he was staring at his opponent. Shinsou Hitoshi, someone he'd never heard of before. It didn't matter, Bakugou and Midoriya were the ones he had to beat.

The next instant, he found himself out of bounds. Present Mic declared Shinsou the victor.

How? Why?

He didn't know how long he stood there, staring at Shinsou's back as he entered the tunnel. He heard the jeers directed at his opponent, but none of it really registered. Jeers? Shinsou _won_. So, why?

Words came from Taylor Hebert over on the commentator's panel, but it meant nothing to him. Quirks? Misinformation? Shinsou's quirk? _Suggestion?_

Numbly, he followed as someone led him away. Aizawa-sensei? When did he arrive?

"Come on, Todoroki-kun. Breathe. That's good," he said calmingly, softly. Like _mother_ used to do, before –

No. Not that. _Never_ that again.

They entered a room. Aizawa led him to a chair.

When had he even began sitting?

"Take all the time you need, Todoroki-kun. It will all be alright."

He didn't know what to feel, didn't know what to think. All he knew was the humiliation of defeat, the loss of failing in this tournament, and the anger beginning to build up in his chest.

For a long while, Aizawa didn't talk. Shouto sat there, motionless, his mind churning as he began to analyse everything that happened before, during and after the match.

Shinsou used his quirk on him. Suggestion, he said it was. Did that mean that part of him _wanted_ to give up?

Taylor Hebert had said that she wouldn't have done any different from Shinsou. Shinsou said that he would do anything to win. He wanted to become a hero.

It wasn't fair for Shouto to blame his opponent for how he had ended the match. Yet, why was it so difficult to accept it? Why was he feeling so angry? So sad?

"Todoroki-kun?" Aizawa asked, a hint of caution in his voice.

Startled, Todoroki turned to face him. He was looking at him with concern, his eyes reflecting the bright yellow of –

His flames.

No. _Endeavour's_ flames.

Hurriedly, he shut it off, smothering the embers of that half of his power. How long had it been since he lost control and accidentally brought it out? Years? Since mum –

No, not that again. Damn it, why did he keep thinking back to that day?

"It's okay to feel how you're feeling, you know," Aizawa said slowly. "Take the time to process it. I know how the match ended can feel unfair. I know –"

"Not it," he found himself saying. He sniffed once, twice. His nose was running?

"Not unfair," he clarified. "Shinsou wanted to win. L- Like me."

Tears? He brushed them aside.

"Not about Shinsou. This is about you, then? You wanted to win the tournament?"

He nodded slowly. This was meant to be his chance of proving to Endeavour that he could make it on his own using only the half of his quirk that didn't come from him. He failed.

He didn't know why he was being so open. He was confused; lost, scared. Nothing made sense. He was meant to fight Midoriya or Bakugou, not fall behind to someone he'd never met before. He wasn't meant to lose control of his flames, _ever_.

"This… my quirk…"

He didn't know how to phrase it. Aizawa didn't know a thing about his history. How could he tell him about any of it?

"It's about Endeavour, isn't it?"

Shouto jerked, looking to face Aizawa. When had his vision turned blurry?

More importantly, how did Aizawa _know_? "You know?" he said softly, barely louder than a whisper.

"I had suspicions," Aizawa said. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry. I don't know everything about your circumstances, but I can guess that your use of your half of your quirk stems from issues between the two of you. _None_ of this is your fault."

How much could he trust Aizawa? Could he tell him everything?

Then Aizawa's phone rang. He ignored it.

Then it rang again, accompanied by insects flying in circles in front of his face.

"I'm sorry, Todoroki-kun. Just a second," he sighed, answering the phone.

It was a welcome pause. Todoroki needed time to _think_. Trust Aizawa, or hide the truth? What did Shinsou's quirk mean? Did part of him want to lose just so Endeavour wouldn't win? Was that how he _really_ thought?

Aizawa shook his head. "Sorry, Todoroki-kun. That was Taylor-san. We're moving rooms."

"Why?"

"It's…" he hesitated for a bit, considering his words. "It's Endeavour. Taylor-san is tracking his movements. I don't think you want to meet him just yet, right?"

He shook his head. He didn't want to face that man now. He would berate him for not using his fire, blame him for his loss. He would enforce more training.

And he would be completely right. Fire travelled faster than ice. Shinsou had almost been hit. He lost because of his choice.

He was nothing without Endeavour. He couldn't _be_ anything without Endeavour.

Aizawa took hold of his hand, guiding him. His feet moved on autopilot.

-o-o-o-

It was a decent attempt, but in the end Setsuna couldn't work her way through Ibara's Shaker field. Those vines were potent at capturing and deceptively strong. I was worried that their friendship could have been strained by that fight, but the way that Ibara helped Setsuna up after she'd regathered her scattered segments eased those fears. They continued chatting as they exited the ring.

Of course, I was again focused on other matters. Trying to avoid the disaster that would be Endeavour coming across Todoroki in his current state took priority over the match. It was frustrating, because Endeavour was persistent. It took a very complex set of movements before he finally gave up and Aizawa could continue his chat with Todoroki.

I'd spied on them both, of course. At least they were making decent headway now, although I needed to talk to Todoroki at some point. Possibly Endeavour as well, if I dug up enough information about him.

With Aizawa handling the matter of Todoroki, I paid attention to the tournament once more. During the time that the two talked and then relocated, several matches had passed in rapid succession.

Following Setsuna and Ibara's battle, the next two fights were decided within a matter of seconds. Funnily enough, Mina's acid caused an actual _chemical reaction_ upon coming into contact with Tetsutetsu's steel, eating its way into just the surface of his body with the hiss of evolved hydrogen gas. Present Mic had called for an early stop to that battle, declaring Mina the victor while hurriedly sending Tetsutetsu off to Recovery Girl, an ugly erosion present on his skin. Mina had repeatedly apologised while the medical staff came and dragged him away, but Tetsutetsu remained stoic and informed her that it was 'but a scratch'.

Similarly, Yaoyorozu hadn't adapted to Tokoyami's continued assault, either ignorant of his quirk's weakness or just failing to come up with a plan in time. She'd elected to fend off his assault with generated shields rather than disabling his quirk, and was forced out of bounds within a couple of attacks by Dark Shadow.

After those two matches, the fight between Kendou and Bakugou took only a marginally longer amount of time. Itsuka was a good fighter, no doubt, but even she couldn't fend off the sheer number and force of explosions from an irate Bakugou, who had been looking to blow off some steam while watching how terribly the other fights of the first round had gone. She tried valiantly, but was knocked out of bounds by explosions, lacking any decent method of either avoiding or withstanding them.

I hadn't even made my phone call when the first round of tournament matches drew to a close.

All in all, compared to how the first two events had gone? The tournament was dreadfully boring in comparison. At least the students would learn how unfair some fights could be.

"Now, for the first match of the quarter-finals! We have Iida Tenya up against Shinsou Hitoshi! Will Iida's speed and power prevail over Shinsou's craftiness? Or will we see another upset in this tournament? Students, please enter the arena!"

-o-o-o-

Shinsou knew that he had zero shot of winning. Hell, Taylor had outright informed him of such.

Still, as he made his way into the ring, he noticed how there wasn't quite as much jeering as before. As he entered, he heard the sounds of his classmates cheering for him. As for his opponent…

He was covering his ears?

"SORRY SHINSOU-SAN!" Iida was shouting. "BUT I MUST USE YOUR QUIRK AGAINST YOU! NOW THAT I KNOW HOW IT WORKS, I CANNOT LISTEN TO YOUR SUGGESTIONS!"

Shinsou looked up at the commentator's desk. Present Mic looked equally bewildered, while Taylor Hebert's expression was unreadable.

At least Iida seemed to believe the false portrayal of how his quirk operated. As Taylor said, this fight was more to show just how vulnerable it was.

"Uh… Begin! Can Iida even hear me?" Present Mic declared, looking at Shinsou's opponent.

He didn't react at all.

He _could_ simply continue standing there while waiting for Iida to actually do something, but this farce had gone on long enough. Shinsou knew that there was no hope of progressing past the first round of the tournament, anyway.

He took a step forward.

Instantly, Iida shot forward, landing a kick just as Shinsou processed the fact that he had begun moving.

"SHINSOU HITOSHI IS OUT OF BOUNDS! IIDA TENYA IS THE WINNER!"

Well, there was that. He shrugged, making his way out of the ring.

"Shinsou-san! I apologise for my methods, but I saw no other way of achieving victory! I hope you understand!" Iida was hurriedly stammering by his side, repeatedly bobbing his head.

…This was a Hero Course student?

"Iida-san, right? It's alright. I get it," Shinsou said, still walking out.

"No, it's not alright! It was a despicable means of achieving victory, and –"

"Just drop it," Shinsou sighed. "You won. My quirk doesn't work well once you know its function."

Despite that, Iida didn't let up at all. Shinsou was wondering if he had made a mistake not throwing his match against Todoroki.

-o-o-o-

Pony's match against Ojiro went entirely as expected. She blatantly abused the event's rules, forcing Ojiro to call the match as she'd done with Kirishima. Needless to say, the audience reacted in much the same way.

Ibara's fight against Mina was another battle of quirks. While Mina's acid managed to chew through Ibara's vines, there was a lot of plant substance to work through. In the end, Ibara simply swarmed her, Mina's constructed sphere of acid being unable to completely withstand the sheer amount of matter that had been directed toward her. She was captured and flung out of the ring within a minute of the fight starting.

The rapid rate at which the tournament was progressing was throwing the audience off guard. My bugs could sense them fidgeting about, a clear sign of their boredom. The next fight managed to alleviate that somewhat, with the clash of Tokoyami and Bakugou at least being visually and auditorily appealing. Ultimately, the lights from Bakugou's explosion were sufficient to cripple Dark Shadow's potency, forcing Tokoyami into a surrender.

"And with that, we advance to the semi-finals! Iida Tenya faces up against Pony Tsunotori! Who will win in this matchup?" Present Mic tried, but he too was clearly becoming disinterested, losing his enthusiasm for the commentary.

This time, at least _some_ expectations were subverted, with Pony not idly waiting out for her opponent's surrender. It didn't make the fight any more enjoyable, though. Iida simply rushed at his target, significantly faster than Pony's previous opponents had been, and sent her flying out of the ring within seconds.

"Pony Tsunotori is out of bounds. Iida Tenya is the winner," Present Mic declared. Then he turned to face me. "God, this is so boring."

"Most fights are," I pointed out. "A balanced fight is a myth. In a one-on-one battle, one party almost always has an overwhelming advantage. It's the whole point of teams."

"_I_ know that. But look at the audience," he swept a hand across the crowd. "They're completely disengaged with the tournament."

"This way, at least the students will know their limits. They're training to become heroes, not glorified pit fighters."

"Ugh. Sometimes, I don't know whether to agree with you or not. Anyway, time for the next round," he said. "Now for the next semi-final match! Shiozaki Ibara and Bakugou Katsuki, please enter the ring!"

-o-o-o-

Bakugou was beyond pissed.

After those first two events where he'd lost against the half-and-half bastard, he had been forced to settle for _this_?

One by one, the fights ended within seconds to minutes. Where was his fated match against Todoroki? How was he going to prove himself as the undisputed number one in the school?

He stepped into the ring. He'd watched Vine-Hair's previous fights against the creepy lizard girl and the pink alien. She was powerful, but there was no way she could withstand his explosions. Her weaknesses were so obvious to anyone watching.

Her vines were slow. Sure, they could catch a regular person easily, but anyone who could enhance their speed using their quirks would easily cut the distance between them.

Present Mic began the match. Bakugou hands were already in position by his back, igniting the sweat that he'd collected from the sheer irritation that this tournament had caused him.

Vine-girl's hair tried to block his path, but he adjusted. Another explosion below him, sending him airborne, and then another to get to her back. All the while, his forward momentum hadn't ceased, sending him directly next to her.

The fourth explosion was launched at point-blank range, sending her flying out of the ring.

Bakugou hadn't even waited for Present Mic to call the match before he walked back to his side of the ring, waiting for the final match to begin. Maybe, just _maybe_, this fight would actually prove interesting.

"SHIOZAKI IBARA IS OUT OF BOUNDS! KATSUKI BAKUGOU IS THE VICTOR!"

Utterly unsatisfactory. Where was the challenge?

"Come on and hurry up, you shitty four-eyes!" he shouted.

"Umm… are you alright to continue, Bakugou-san?" Present Mic actually had the audacity to ask. Bakugou fixed him a glare.

He seemed to get the message, because he hurriedly announced the start of the next match. "AND FOR THE FINALS OF OUR TOURNAMENT! We have Iida Tenya up against Bakugou Katsuki! We've seen just how _fast_ Iida can be in his previous matches, but this match demonstrates Bakugou's own speed and manoeuvrability! Will explosions triumph over engines? Or will Iida take it all? Which of these students from class 1-A will be crowned the victor? Iida Tenya, please enter the ring!"

Bakugou seethed as he watched Iida make his way toward the stadium. Finally. An actual challenge.

Wait. Something wasn't right.

Four-eyes was slouching. Four-eyes _never_ slouched.

Bakugou studied him closer. He was distracted, fidgeting. Fear? Nerves?

"_BEGIN!"_

Bakugou rushed forward, propelling himself forward with an explosion. Four-eyes…

He didn't react.

What?

He stopped his assault, fighting the urge to let loose another explosion at point blank range.

"Oi, Four-Eyes! Pay attention!"

He raised his hand, much more slowly than he could have, releasing the tiniest of explosions. His opponent took the impact, barely moving to dodge, flying back a short distance to land unsteadily on his feet.

"Stop being distracted and FIGHT ME!"

"Bakugou-san, I –"

Something was _very_ wrong. He wasn't being his usual annoying self, thinking himself superior to Bakugou. Hell, everything was wrong.

Bakugou didn't bother using an explosion. He just punched Iida in the chest. He took the hit.

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?" Bakugou was enraged.

"Nothing, Bakugou-san," he said. His tone and posture conveyed the exact opposite.

He was going to get a good fight, whether his opponent wanted it or not. He stepped back, making a show of gathering sweat in his hands.

"Listen, you shitty class-rep. You better fight me for real."

"_Iida-san! Is something the matter?"_ Present Mic questioned over the microphone, voice booming over the system.

"Nothing," he denied, facing Bakugou once more. Some fight had returned, but his mind was still clearly out of the fight.

Enough of this farce. Bakugou brought his hands forward, generating the largest explosion of the day. Four-eyes _had_ to avoid it.

The engines on his legs came to life, sending himself gliding off to the side, but it was clumsy and slow. Chunks of the arena ground were ripped out from the sheer force of the explosion. Iida was caught at its very edge, tumbling out of the ring, despite almost definitely being capable of making it out in time.

_This was it? THIS was the fight he'd been waiting for?_

Bakugou screamed in frustration. To hell with the rules. Just about everyone had ignored them or blatantly made a mockery of the rules during this entire tournament. He moved toward Iida, preparing another explosion.

"_Iida Tenya is out of bounds! Bakugou Katsuki is the victor! Contestant Bakugou, stop advancing!"_

He didn't care. He charged up for yet another burst.

Then there was a strange scent. His movements felt slow.

Whaaat…

He was barely able to turn, stumbling over his own feet, as he saw Midnight rush to check on Iida.

Damn it all…

-o-o-o-

"That was a disaster," Hizashi said, running a palm over his face.

I agreed wholeheartedly. While the first two events had showcased the students' versatility and abilities in rescue work, this tournament hadn't done anything to improve the school image in the public eye.

Sure, we had salvaged the issue with Shinsou and Todoroki, but now we needed to deal with the repercussions of that internally. The students might have learned about just how unfair some matchups were in actual cape-fights, but it didn't serve to increase the public's confidence in the school. And now, with the fiasco of whatever it was going on with Iida and Bakugou, it was clear that people were questioning about just what kind of students we were teaching.

Iida's body language had changed completely since a few minutes ago when he left the holding area, apparently to answer a phone call according to some of the staff manning the area. I saw just how defeated he had become, how his movements had slowed and how he didn't seem to be completely aware of his surroundings.

I had felt it through my bugs numerous times. It was what happened when people simply _shut-down_ during high-stake battles; Endbringer attacks, Scion's rampage, the Nine and more. In the aftermath of his defeat, Nemuri checked up on Iida and some words were exchanged before Iida rushed out of the stadium.

What the hell had happened?

The victor unconscious from Nemuri's quirk, the runner-up gone from the stadium. Third and fourth place earned by complete flukes. It was an unmitigated disaster.

"UA's reputation is going to take a huge hit. Your teaching exercise had better be able to impress the public, Taylor-san. Nezu is going to have our heads otherwise," Hizashi said bitterly, defeated.

"Yeah," I sighed. "We'd better get to that soon. I'll make my way there. Are the other teachers ready?"

"They will be. Get yourself set up, and I'll explain to your students how it will work."

With that, I began making my way to where the exercise would be held. This tournament only reminded me how _different_ this world and mine were.

In my world, one-on-one fights were extremely uncommon outside of certain contexts. I remembered the statistics of just how long capes who went solo tended to last. Perhaps I should use this tournament as an example to highlight that fact.

* * *

**I tried to give it a bit of realism by randomisation, but well… yeah. You probably noticed the extremely meta comments between Taylor and Present Mic depicting what you were very likely thinking of.**

**If anyone made it this far, congratulations. You're either a masochist, or just have way too much time on your hands.**

**As mentioned earlier, I might delete or switch up these two last chapters. I'll give it a week and see how I feel about all this with fresh eyes. Sorry for all the draggy notes in each chapter, and for wasting your time in the build-up to **_**this **_**mockery of both fandoms. Probably doesn't help that I'm not in the right headspace for writing either.**

**Edit 17/7: See edit at the top.**


	11. Second Debut

**Exam results came out. I dropped like 30 ranks in position in my cohort of 250-300. Sigh.**

**Wrote this in several sittings over the week while struggling with motivation and mood, so writing quality and pacing may differ wildly through the chapter. With this, though, the Festival is over, and I'll be moving on to other stuff in time. Update schedule will slow down compared to my first week now that I actually have things to do with my time.**

**Hopefully it's enjoyable. Otherwise, sorry once again.**

* * *

**Chapter 11: Second Debut**

Yadama Hizashi was no stranger to crowd control. In his Present Mic persona, he had to know how to sway a crowd's views, after all.

Still, Taylor Hebert had masterfully manipulated the crowd and mollified their opinions toward Shinsou Hitoshi. He had no idea that she was capable of doing that, but he wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth. Hell, she might have just single-handedly averted a crisis not just for the boy, but also for UA and the public as well. With the ever-rising tensions between the quirked and quirkless, the last thing that society needed was a controversy within those with quirks.

Now, however, he had been left with the mammoth task of attempting to turn the crowd's growing boredom and irritation in the aftermath of the travesty of a tournament. He wished he had access to whatever magic or otherworldly power Taylor had made use of, because there was no logical way that she could have handled the crowd the way she had. Nezu had made it abundantly clear in private that his reading of Taylor Hebert indicated that she was paranoid, distrustful and moderately asocial, and attempting to adjust to a world markedly unlike her own. Hizashi would take the principal's word for it, given his quirk.

"ALRIGHT, LISTENERS! Wasn't that an amazing tournament!" Hizashi cringed internally at his attempt at rousing up the crowd, and hurried on with what he _actually_ wanted to talk about. Anything to save the final few moments of the Festival. "The tournament is over and Bakugou Katsuki has been crowned as the victor, but that's not all that we have for you today! You've seen how our newest teaching assistant can come up with grand events for our students and your viewing pleasure, but now you get to see how she's like in her classes! An up-and-rising star of UA, Taylor Hebert has gained rapid popularity within the student body, especially among the first-year classes that she teaches!"

"WOO! GO TAYLOR-SAN! YEAH!"

Hizashi could have thanked Tokage Setsuna for the interruption, because it brought some chuckles and a slight increase in the crowd's interest. "I'm sure many of our students would have seen videos of Taylor-san's training classes –"

Here, some snickering grew among the assembled students, just as Hizashi had planned. Taylor's skillful scripted playing of the crowd had given him ideas for new ways to improve his own practice.

"- but now we get to see them for real! And that's not all! This will be a training exercise conducted after more than a week of intense planning and cooperation with fellow teachers! This will surely be an excellent educational opportunity not just for the participating students, but for all of you as well, dear listeners!"

Quickly, he pressed a button on the commentator's table nearby. An image of Taylor's Six, as had been colloquially termed by the teachers, showed up on the screen. It was a still-capture from one of their previous training exercises, catching them in the middle of an action shot, quirks fully on display as bodies of insects came at them from all angles. He could hear the muttering among the crowd, and capitalised on the change in their interest level.

He spied the Six among the crowd, Tokage grinning from cheek to cheek as she waved at the crowd from where she stood. By her side, Kendou and Kinoko were looking uncomfortable with the attention, while Pony and Shiozaki looked shocked from their moment in the spotlight. Monoma was talking with Midoriya from class 1-A, who seemed to have been fully healed by Recovery Girl's quirk. Hopefully that meant that his rivalry with the other class had toned down a little; Kan had been a little worried about his obsessive competition.

"We've already seen these six students in action during the first two events! Part of the reason they worked so well together is because of the practical exercises they'd been put through during classes! Taylor-san has put her Bug Control quirk to extremely intelligent use, forming mock-villains for our students to engage and other forms of hazards commonly seen in hero fieldwork. Today, we have collectively come up with something far beyond the previous classes that these students have participated in!"

Now he could move on to the actual briefing. He turned his attention onto the students still recovering from their surprise. "Students! I'm sure that Taylor-san has informed you of the training exercise, but not what it entails. Do not worry, because I will now begin the briefing for the mission!"

He changed the display on the stadium screens again, and this time he could not hide the grin as the audience collectively 'ooh'ed and 'ahh'ed. Power Loader had surely outdone himself this time.

He pointed to the screens that now showed a map of where the exercise would be held, located within Training Ground Gamma. The cleanup crew had been exceptionally productive in restoring it back to the state it had been before the first two events.

"The premise for this exercise continues on from the theme of the first two exercises! Brave students, you have defeated the two villains and escaped from the wrath of the Nezu-bot, but all is not yet over! For in secret, Nezu has been working with the renowned villain Hive Mind, who has the ability to control all manner of bugs and enforce her dominion over those that she infests!"

Pressing the button yet again, a figure of Taylor wearing a different costume appeared on the screen, insects and arachnids of all sorts obscuring her features. She sported a dark-themed costume with yellow lenses on her mask, a stark contrast against the Weaver costume she normally wore. He had no idea what it was supposed to represent, but she had simply told them that the costume was of 'sentimental value'. Hizashi wasn't stupid enough to question someone who literally had millions of bugs floating around her regarding the meaning of those words. He smirked as the audience gasped at her choice of outfit; no doubt he would be informing her of their reactions later.

"Two months since the fall of Training Ground Gamma, there have been reports of strange creatures and aggressive humans sporting insectoid characteristics attacking those passing by the industrial city. In cooperation with the Support Department of UA, some brave scientists within the city have maintained communications and have been developing a device that would put an end to Hive Mind's nefarious schemes. But pressed in on all sides by the horrors that she has created, they are unable to escape from the city! Your task, young heroes, is simple: Enter the city, find the lead scientist, bring him and the device back to this stadium and save Training Ground Gamma from the bug armageddon! Failure to do so would surely _bee_ catastrophic!"

He allowed himself a mental pat on the back for a pun well done. Everyone loved bee puns, right? Thankfully, Taylor had already left the stadium and couldn't physically threaten him for that. Seriously, she needed to learn to lighten up!

"We have pinpointed the scientist's location based on communications that have been sent from his position. Vlad King-sensei will be playing the role of this scientist, but he will not be using his quirk to assist you during the task," he said, then highlighted the area on the map. It was located fairly deep within Training Ground Gamma, as a means of testing their capabilities in infiltration or direct assault. Hizashi wondered which route they would choose. "You will have access to the armbands used during the first two events for this task for the purposes of communications, mapping of your surroundings and navigation."

He snuck another look at the students. As expected, Tokage was enthusiastic, but the rest looked equally excited for the exercise. Kan hadn't been kidding when he said that Taylor's lessons were _extremely_ popular.

"Of course, for this exercise, you will be allowed access to your hero costumes and any support items you have prepared during your time in UA! Beyond that, following the theme of the first two events of today's Festival, there are no rules. Will you sneak your way in to rescue the scientist? Or will you brave the legions of horrors that lie in store? Will all of you work together on the same task, or will some among you fend off Hive Mind's forces while the rest bring the device back to the stadium? Treat this as an introduction to hero fieldwork: there are no rules!"

With that, he finished off the presentation with the final slide prepared by Power Loader, showcasing a venerable army of spiders accompanied by bodies consisting of butterflies, dragonflies, ladybugs and all other manner of insects. They needed to show off what Taylor could do, in order to introduce her to the heroes of their world.

In the image, Taylor was looming over them all from a nearby rooftop, alongside a few of Ectoplasm's clones that would act as other villains in the exercise. It had been annoyingly painful trying to convince Taylor to take part in the photo-op, but she had ultimately unwillingly consented. For someone who had such a deep understanding of social dynamics and the ability to manipulate them, she certainly hated attention.

"Now then, students! Are there any questions?"

Unsurprisingly, Tokage's hand was in the first in the air.

"Yes, Tokage-san?"

"Sensei! Is there a time limit for this exercise?"

"There is no strict time limit, per se, but it should last for approximately an hour after accounting for travel time and escorting of the scientist back to the stadium from Training Ground Gamma. Any other questions?"

"Yes, sensei! What sort of resistance may we be expected to encounter?"

Ah, now that was a good question. Pity for her, though; the teachers had agreed that they wouldn't spill _all_ the beans just yet.

"You will likely face many of the same threats you have seen before in your classes. Ectoplasm-sensei will also be employing some clones to act as some of Hive Mind's underlings. However, be ready for new surprises and slightly more difficult foes in the course of this mission. As any hero would know, _anything_ can change during the course of a mission!"

He spotted some of the said heroes nodding in agreement with his words. Good, that would hopefully be able to boost the school's reputation if this trajectory carried on into the actual showcase. God knows how badly they needed that after that tournament.

"What sort of conditions would count as defeat?" Monoma asked. He was certainly a sharp one. Hizashi could see why Taylor was considering him as a team leader as they progressed on into the school year.

"Unlike the exercises in class that Taylor-san has conducted, winning or losing will not be so clear-cut," he said. Ah, screw it, he could tolerate some bugs in his lunch just for the students' and audience's reactions. "In the Zombie Butterfly exercise –"

Tokage began cackling as scattered laughter broke out among the students, while the crowd just looked confused. He smiled; that name hadn't ever been _formally_ acknowledged among any of the faculty just yet.

"- in that exercise, defeat was considered as being overwhelmed or attacked by Taylor-san's mock villains. For today, this condition will be changed to being captured or otherwise incapacitated by enemy forces. You will be allowed to rescue one another but be warned that the difficulty of your opponents will be correspondingly increased compared to previous classes."

"Come on, sensei! Can't you explain that a bit?" Tokage whined. Hizashi shook his head with a slight smile.

"That would be telling, dear Tokage-san! I wouldn't want to spoil the surprises that Taylor-san and the other teachers have prepared for all of you!"

That seemed to be the last of their questions. Hizashi waited for several more seconds, before moving on. "You will now have some time to get changed into your hero costumes. Return here in fifteen minutes, and we will take you to the outskirts of Training Ground Gamma where the task will begin. Remember our motto: Go beyond! Plus Ultra!"

Hearing those words echoed back to him never got old. He watched as the Six made their way back toward the main campus.

_Now comes the hard part_, he sighed mentally. How could he entertain the crowd until they were ready to begin after the worst tournament showcase in years?

"So, dear listeners! While we wait for our students to return, how about we talk about the events of the day? Personally, for the first event, I was rather impressed with…"

-o-o-o-

I waited by the command deck that had been specially arranged for my use within Training Ground Gamma. Here, the entirety of the grounds and more was within the range of my power. I registered the presence of millions upon millions of bugs of all sorts that had been specially prepared by Nezu for this showcase. Not quite the largest number that I had ever commanded, but it was certainly comparable to some of those moments. Still, I probably wouldn't need access to that many.

In front of me were a range of monitors displaying live images from cameras scattered around the training ground, alongside headsets providing audio feed of the grounds. Truthfully, I didn't really need them, but I hadn't exactly disclosed my ability to hear through my bugs just yet. With the sheer density of bugs that I had access to, sight wasn't even strictly necessary, as I could map out the area decently well enough.

Then again, I was willing to accept any form of help that would enable me to keep the true scope of my abilities hidden for just a while longer. I wasn't sure how much longer I would keep the extent of my powers a secret. I felt just slightly guilty not disclosing this information to my fellow teachers, or at the very least just Nezu, but I had been blindsided by those I trusted before. Dinah's betrayal after having rescued her still stung, even if it led to better numbers for preventing the end of the world.

Through my bugs, I sensed the presence of seven new bodies entering the range of my power. I recognised them as my six students and Nemuri, who had volunteered to escort them to their starting location.

On cue, Hizashi's voice came over the communications system. "_Taylor-san, the students are approaching the training ground soon." _

"I know, thank you. I can sense their presence."

"_Still creepy, even if it's not me."_

"That's the point. I heard what you said during the briefing, by the way. You should know that I don't make empty threats."

Hizashi gave some hurried splutters as I considered just what type of bugs to pack into his lunch. It had to be something small and unnoticeable, yet sufficiently disgusting by most people's standards to ensure he never took one of my threats lightly ever again. Perhaps some maggots would do?

"_Taylor-san, the students are in position. Are you ready to begin?" _Nemuri asked.

"I'm ready. Hizashi, if you would please send the signal?"

I looked at one of the cameras detailing the situation in the stadium. It was unfortunately outside of my range, but I at least had audio and visual feeds.

"_Dear listeners! Dear students! Our participants are all ready now, so without further ado, let the training exercise begin!"_

I sensed the Six students discussing their plan for approaching the task. Good, I had drilled into them early that without the overwhelming force other heroes had access to, analysing a situation and piecing together something that they could use to their advantage was critical. Stealthily, I allowed just a few more bugs to skitter their way through the grass undetected in order to eavesdrop on their conversation. Of course, I wouldn't make use of such knowledge to my advantage.

That would be my chosen lie if asked, at least.

Nonetheless, I wouldn't abuse this knowledge too hard. Ultimately, this was meant to assist the students in their education as well. A one-sided beatdown wouldn't necessarily help; the tournament would likely have drilled in the lessons that such an overwhelming defeat would give anyway.

"…_to the map, Kan-sensei is located near the middle of the training ground. How should we make our approach?" _Itsuka was asking the group.

"_It will take about ten minutes of walking at a safe pace to reach there from the main entrance to the training ground, if we stick to our formation and watch out for threats,"_ Neito said. Good, he was thinking rationally. I wouldn't hesitate to send in my forces to intercept them if they weren't at least being careful. The notion that supervillains sent in their underlings one by one to die while watching heroes break through their hideouts was something falsely perpetuated by comic books and movies.

"_It's faster if we approach from the east side, though. With my quirk and Pony-chan's horns, we'll be able to scale it, no problem. We'll be less likely to be spotted as well,"_ Setsuna pointed out. Not bad, I had expected one of their team to have thought of such.

"_Good idea, Setsuna-chan! We'll be able to have a better view from up there as well!" _Kinoko cheered.

"_Don't be so hasty, Tokage-san. We know how devious Taylor-san can be when she's in the mood. Could you scout ahead to check the path leading to the east wall?"_ Ibara added her own thoughts.

"_Ah, right. Hey, do you think Taylor-chan's listening to us right now?"_ I tensed up. What could have given me away? My bugs were all safely sequestered away, hiding in spots outside of their vision. She shouldn't have been able to notice them. How could she even know I could hear through my bugs, anyway?

"_Right, Nezu-sensei did say that he knew where we were through our armbands. Hey, Taylor! If you're listening, no cheating!"_ Pony said indignantly.

Oh. They had no clue, then.

They waited several seconds for a response. Did they actually think I would give them one if I _were_, hypothetically, listening in?

"_Let's just get moving, Tokage-san," _Neito sighed. "_Could you send your eyes and one ear ahead? We'll help guard your body, and you can tell us about what the situation is like."_

"_Of course I'll _keep an eye out_ for you, Monoma-san."_

With that, Neito gave a deep sigh, probably used to Setsuna's antics and terrible puns. My bugs felt just the slightest disturbance in the wind that I assumed originated from her body parts moving through the air. It wasn't something that could be detected outside of someone with a significant Thinker power or enhanced senses, so I didn't allow myself to react to that.

I did move my minions located on the east wall just slightly, though. If she wasn't careful in moving her eyes and ear and came within what looked to be line of sight of my butterfly creations, I could justify an immediate response toward their presence.

"…_can see several of Taylor-chan's zombies. There's butterfly and ladybug variants. Oh, and a couple of spider-dragonfly mixtures too, that's new."_

"_Please stay on task, Tokage-san."_

"_Right, right, Itsuka-chan, don't be such a downer. So far I've spotted five of them, but we should be able to hide from them quite easily. If we loop around behind the treeline to the southeast, we can hide until nearer to the east side. I don't see any villains up there from where I am, but I can't get any closer right now without alerting Taylor-chan."_

"_Okay. Can you keep one eye out maintaining lookout, and regenerate your other one to take us to where you are? Will it strain your quirk too much?"_

"_I should be able to keep an eye and ear separated for just enough time to bring you all to me, provided we don't run into any trouble. I'm growing an eye back now."_

It took another few seconds before the group began moving. Time to concentrate on the exercise, then. I moved some of my minions around, simulating sentries placed on lookout on the south and east walls. To their credit, my students mobilised well; they hid completely behind the treeline out of what I defined as the view of my bugs and the cameras lining the walls. They maintained their silence as well, or were speaking so softly that my bugs couldn't hear them, a testament to how seriously they took this exercise.

"…_okay, Tokage-san. Point out where the villains are?"_

The lone bug I had on Setsuna's arm sensed her movements as she demonstrated the locations of some of my villains. She managed to pick up some of the more obvious ones, along with a few of those I'd taken some effort to try and hide, but there were a few more she hadn't seen. I smiled slightly, that would make things just a little more exciting.

"_Okay, let's take this path here,"_ Setsuna said, before making a series of complicated gestures. The rest of the group murmured agreement, and then they were off.

Setsuna scattered her body parts, taking off from the ground. The rest of the group followed suit, probably through Pony's horns and Neito's copying of her quirk.

Right then. Time to start the exercise.

-o-o-o-

"Coast is clear. Be careful of the one on the right, stay close to the wall so you don't get spotted," Setsuna informed her team. She had sent one of her eyes ahead, keeping track of the sentries up on the wall. Carefully, she brought the rest of her body parts up the wall, leading her team along a safe path where they couldn't be seen.

A deft series of manoeuvres later, they were safely placed in position up on the wall, allowing a bird's eye view of Training Ground Gamma. She beckoned for them to crouch low, so as not to alert Taylor regarding their choice of entry method.

"We should probably take out the ones on the wall before we head down," she whispered. She wouldn't put it past Taylor to install microphones in just about everywhere in the training ground, after how one of their previous exercises had gone. Since then, their team had agreed to keep noise down to a minimum during any of her insane classes. "There's two up ahead, facing out toward the east. We can probably take them out quickly enough that Taylor-san would count that as a silent takedown."

"You and me?" Pony asked. Setsuna nodded, then detached her arms and an eye.

"Follow, but be careful," she said.

She moved her eye on ahead, scouting just several metres in front of her as her other eye spied Pony creeping quietly behind her floating limbs. Two horns were hovering in the air in front of her, ready to strike.

Several metres of travel later, she brought one of her index fingers up while curling in the rest of her fingers. Hopefully Pony would understand the gesture for silence. Peeking around the corner, she found that the villains she spotted still hadn't moved.

Good. Silently, she pointed their positions to Pony. Then, on one hand, she began to count down.

Three. Two. _One._

She shot both hands flying through the air, curling their hands around one of the humanoid bodies. Likewise, one of Pony's horns acted as a gag where their mouth would be, while the other applied pressure on their windpipe.

Taylor must have counted those as successful defeats, because the bodies slumped down to the ground for a second, before dissipating into their constituent bugs. It was significantly creepier now that they were composites of all manner of insects, rather than the butterflies from the first exercise.

Quietly, she beckoned for Pony to maintain position, while she led the rest of the group toward them.

"Good work," she whispered once her body and mouth finally caught up. "There were several more behind, but I don't think they'll be able to spot us."

"Should we head on down now?" Kinoko asked.

The rest looked at her for guidance. Funny, when had she become the one in charge? Setsuna considered the situation. It would be safer to take the rest out as well, but that would take more time. There was also the issue of her not knowing the position of Taylor's minions further out along the wall.

No, the best option would probably be scaling down into the training ground right now.

"Yeah. I think that would be the best –"

She heard a light click, and stopped mid-sentence. Likewise, the group froze up, looking at the source of the sound.

A lone bug-creature paused mid-step about twenty metres ahead as it (he?) spotted their group.

Damn it! Of course Taylor would send patrols! This was _Taylor_. Why would she do anything less?

She sent her hands flying forward, Pony's and Monoma's horns doing the same by her side. They struck the villain in an instant, but that was already too late.

"INTRUDER ALERT," a robotic voice chimed. "SENDING TEAM TO INVESTIGATE."

"Damn it! What now?" Setsuna asked, sending her eyes out to scout for reinforcements. Monoma moved to copy her quirk, repeating what she had done.

"Run, or fight?" Itsuka asked, looking around warily.

"I don't see any yet – No, two of them, ten metres!" Monoma corrected, pointing out their locations while detaching his arms. Setsuna turned an eyeball around to look, but the pair had been taken out by Monoma and Pony, turning into a mass of bugs as they left the wall.

"Good work. See any more?"

"No, but they left something behind," Monoma said, moving forward gingerly while one of his eyes rotated in midair. He bent down to pick up an object.

"It's a speaker and a microphone," he informed the team. "Looks like the ones we used in class. Should we assume that Taylor wants us to know that they've got communications up as well?"

"Yeah. There's something else, though. Look," Kinoko pointed, then retrieved whatever she spotted. It was a small, rectangular object, with several buttons.

"What's that?" Pony asked.

"Dunno. Think we should press them?"

"I'm not sure if that's really the best idea, Tokage-san –"

A few bugs flew over at that point, cutting off Monoma in his speech. They landed on the device, and pressed on a button.

"Damn, be careful!" she warned.

"INTRUDER ALERT," a voice chimed. She cursed, then spun around to watch out for new threats.

Then the bugs pressed another button. "SOMETHING AHEAD," the voice continued.

The bugs pressed more buttons, calling out different phrases. "REQUESTING BACKUP" was followed up by "HOSTILES CAPTURED" and "TARGET ELIMINATED".

"They're set phrases?" Monoma said, just as Setsuna came to the same realisation. "I'm guessing that we should assume that they'll communicate with other villains nearby?"

The bugs flew into the air, forming a smiley face.

"I guess that means Taylor-chan _is_ listening to us through the communicator. No cheating! Hey, Monoma-san, mind ditching that later?"

The smiley face turned into a frown, before the bugs left as indistinct wisps.

"Taylor's really making this exercise more realistic, huh?" Pony mused.

"It's like one of those old Splinter Cell games with a more realistic version of VR-technology!" Setsuna said excitedly. Man, this was getting fun.

"I don't think any of us ever played those ancient games, but I get what you mean. They'll be reacting to our movements during the exercise, huh?" Monoma said. "If no more of them are coming, I think that means we've dealt with the reinforcements the first one called. Should we make our way down?"

"Yeah. Be careful, though. Now that we know they've got communications, we need to make sure not to get spotted before we get swarmed. Monoma-san, copy my quirk and help keep an eye out. Pony-chan, get ready to take out targets if we can't get them fast enough. Ibara-chan, Kinoko-chan, Itsuka-chan, I'm not sure how to use your quirks right now, but if we get in a tight spot we'll need your help."

"Got it. Don't worry, we'll be ready," Itsuka nodded.

"Okay. Monoma-san and I will scout ahead for now. Pony-chan, get ready to send the rest down when we give the signal."

They nodded, as Monoma refreshed his duration over his copied quirk. Then, they sent their eyes, ears and arms forward, hiding in the shadows of buildings as they scouted for targets.

-o-o-o-

They were making decent progress, all things considered. After my impromptu explanation of the communicators that I had Hatsume make for the exercise, the students took the task more seriously, cutting all chatter to a minimum.

Setsuna and Neito had done a fine job in taking out my bugs on the way to the building where Kan was being held. There were only a couple mishaps where they'd accidentally allowed themselves to get spotted by my cameras, but recovered quickly enough that only a few initial reinforcements sent to investigate the disturbance had arrived before being taken out by their team.

I wouldn't fault them for their blunder just yet, but I made a note to highlight areas of improvement after the conclusion of today's events. They simply weren't very used to stealth and infiltration, it seemed.

They were entering the building to rescue the scientist for the scenario given to them. Would they learn from their earlier exercises?

The moment they entered the doorway, I had spiders lurking up above the doorframe spin their webs blindly down below.

"_AMBUSH!"_ Setsuna warned.

With that, two of Ectoplasms clones advanced, joined by groups of spiders preparing to weave webs to capture my students.

Kinoko had been caught by my spiders, mimicking the events from a previous exercise. This time, however, she didn't scream in terror. Beyond a short-lived muted shock, she recovered well, getting into motion before she could be fully captured by my bugs. Through the camera feed, I could see her using the gun that formed part of her hero costume to fire spores at the staircase leading up the building, halting further flow of reinforcements before they could become swarmed.

Itsuka and Neito were moving to engage the two clones, utilising the advantage of their Brute quirks in close combat within the building. Pony was lending supporting fire, preventing Ectoplasm from backing away from the Brute pair. Setsuna and Ibara were hard at work trying to clear my bugs; the former had split her body to her maximum limit as the many bits of her speared at my bugs, while Ibara simultaneously shielded the rest from my webs with her vines while crushing any obvious collection of spiders she could see.

I began moving some of my minions downstairs, deliberately allowing them to slow down as they passed the mushroom field. "INTRUDER ALERT. REQUESTING BACKUP," I had one of them warn, as he made his way to a mock terminal near to the wall.

"Pony-chan!"

"On it!"

Before he could successfully pretend to work the communications system to call in more reinforcements, Pony's horns had already speared through my minion, and for good measure destroyed the terminal I had him working on. Luckily it wasn't actually functional, and simply a cheap mess of plastic. The teachers probably wouldn't appreciate the amount of property damage that my students could get up to.

The two Brutes had crushed Ectoplasm's clones by then, and they took the opportunity to regroup.

"Everyone alright?" Setsuna asked.

"I'm alright," Kinoko said. "Didn't freak out about the spiders this time."

Setsuna gave a short laugh, but remained otherwise serious. "We good to continue?"

In the video feed, I saw the rest of the group nod. Carefully, they neared the staircase to the next level.

The moment that they turned the corner at the top of the stairs, I got my bugs to trigger one of the devices I had commissioned Hatsume to make. A jet of liquid not unlike the containment foam mimic that Nezu had used surged toward them, immobilising them in position.

"Not this again!" Monoma groaned, struggling against the hardening solid. Unlike Nezu's version, this one lasted for just a while longer.

"What is this stuff?" Setsuna questioned as she detached her arms to allow their movement. She spied the contraptions where I had launched the containment foam from, destroying them utterly. I would need to get Hatsume to increase their durability for future exercises. I didn't doubt that she would enjoy the challenge.

"Incoming!" Itsuka said, as she enlarged her hands once more. More of Ectoplasm's clones engaged the team, while I had teams of spiders firing webs while they were still immobilised. This had been a scripted encounter, one that the teachers had great interest in seeing how my students would react.

As copies of Ectoplasm caught the team in a pincer movement both from the second floor and from where they hid on the first floor, I began organising squads of spiders and flying insects to spin their webs in an attempt to capture my students. It wasn't anything serious, only a few thousand units of the insect duo, but if given enough time they could probably be able to force the non-Brute combatants out of the fight.

Itsuka and Neito were shielding the rest of the group, tanking hits from Ectoplasm while attempting to make the best of the situation they found themselves in. Up on the stairwell, there were only two narrow funnels of entry leading to the group. Itsuka grabbed a single clone, shoving it back toward more copies streaming in from the second floor.

A pity for them that that was only true if assuming their enemies travelled on foot. My mounted spiders began flying in, targeting the more vulnerable members of their group. As I had done thousands of times before, I ordered their mounts to fly in tight corkscrews around one another as they circled around Kinoko. Only three threads in each braid, but it would probably be enough restraint for her case.

"Spiders!" Setsuna warned, already sending the tiniest of fragments of her body to intercept them. "The hell, Taylor-chan is intense!"

Far away in my control room, I snorted. This was nowhere near what I was capable of. Then again, they didn't ever see me when I was fully serious before. That would have to change at some point.

The Brutes of the group turned to look at her warning. That was a mistake that Ectoplasm quickly took advantage of. Two clones moved to tackle Neito to the ground in the instant of his distraction, with one continuing to pin his arms behind his back while the other advanced on the rest of the group.

"Damn, incoming!" he shouted, still struggling against the clone.

Kinoko was firing her gun blindly at the swarm. Some of them were tagged by her spores, but most simply failed to find any purchase. She began to grow the mushrooms using her quirk, sending some of my bugs to the ground as they struggled against the increase in weight. Within a few more moments, however, I had her arms bound in webs, pulled together tightly by the tension of thousands of flying bugs.

"I can't move my hands!"

"I can't help!" Itsuka shouted, still fighting off against Ectoplasm, backing up toward the rest of the group as she picked up the ones that had overpowered Neito. At some point, she'd put her Brute rating to good use and ripped off the solidified weak foam holding her in place.

My bugs were beginning to move onto the other shaker. Attempting to capture Setsuna or Pony was pointless; their quirks would function even if I could successfully bind them. It wouldn't do them any favours if I gave them any more leniency than I already had.

Bugs began circling around Ibara's head and hands, attempting to pin down her hair against her head while simultaneously tagging her as having been captured. She caught on quickly, sending her hair lashing out to the sides before I could gain any significant amount of tension. Some bugs were crushed against the wall, but the rest continued. In her moment of panic, she'd accidentally struck Pony, sending her off-balance, feet still bound by foam.

"Shiozaki-san! Careful!" she cried out.

"Sorry! I can't – hit – these bugs!"

She changed tactics, growing out the tiniest of thorns on her hair, encircling vines around her own head as my bugs approached. It wouldn't immediately destroy them, but the movements of her hair ripped the strands of silk before they could be tightly wound around her. It was a stalling tactic, relying on Setsuna to continue shredding my swarm before they were overrun.

Only a few hundred remained now. Itsuka was doing commendably well, holding her own against four of Ectoplasm's clones. Despite that, she was giving up ground quickly, with the group bunched up together on the stairwell.

"Change tactics!" Neito ordered, still restrained by one copy of Ectoplasm. "Shiozaki-san, deal with Ectoplasm! Don't worry about being captured, you can continue using your quirk even if that happens! Pony-san, knock Ectoplasm off me!"

They complied. As Itsuka retreated, Ibara's vines lashed out into the funnel where Ectoplasm's clones were advancing from, forcing them backwards. At the same time, all four of Pony's horns rammed into Neito's assailant, giving him the opportunity to get up, rip off the containment foam, and switch over to Setsuna's quirk.

"Good plan!" Setsuna said. Together, the many body parts of Neito and Setsuna were able to tear my swarm apart, reducing their number to less than a hundred units. It was insufficient to capture the students now that they'd reorganised. I dispersed the remnants of the swarm; no sense in wasting good bugs.

Itsuka helped to tear apart the threads binding Kinoko's and Ibara's hands, receiving muted thanks in return, before removing the weak solidified foam restraining her team's movements. That seemed to be the end of the engagement, as the remaining clones of Ectoplasm were completely helpless against six teenagers that no longer found themselves immobilised or otherwise caught off-guard. Within a few more moments, the clones dissipated.

While they managed to turn the situation around, it was disappointing that it took them almost being overrun before they'd come up with a decent plan of action. I would have to come up with something to help with their ability to adapt to a surprise engagement.

"We all good?" Neito asked, panting slightly.

"Yeah. Damn, Taylor-chan is being intense today. Whatever that liquid was, flying spiders, clones _and_ bug bodies?" Setsuna commented.

"Let's keep going. Knowing her, she'll send some more minions after us if we take too long," Pony said. I honestly wasn't going to, if only because I would need to coordinate with Ectoplasm for that to happen. Besides, the real test would come later.

"Right," Itsuka agreed.

They pressed on. We didn't plan for any more adversaries in their way, allowing them to find Kan within one of the rooms. He was sitting by a computer terminal, watching the feed from the stadium alongside commentary by Present Mic.

"Vlad King-sensei!" Setsuna greeted. "How are you doing?"

"Please stay focused," he sighed. Then, he fell into the role he'd been assigned to. "Thank you for rescuing me, young heroes! Quickly, we must make our way back to the stadium and put an end to Hive Mind's schemes once and for all!"

"Yeah! Let's go, Kan-sensei!" Pony cheered.

"Anything else you can tell us, Kan-sensei?" Monoma asked.

He sighed once more. "Thank you for rescuing me, young heroes! Quickly, we must make our way back to the stadium and put an end to Hive Mind's schemes once and for all!"

The students paused. Through the camera, I could see Kinoko blinking. "Um, Vlad King-sensei?"

"Oh, my God. It's an escort quest. You're an NPC!" Setsuna said a moment later.

Kan nodded, unwilling to say the phrase once more. He'd lost a bet against Hizashi, and had been relegated to this role for the showcase. I didn't understand most of what they were talking about, but apparently it had something to do with computer games. They would have gotten along well with Shigaraki, provided the Striker didn't actively try to kill them.

Setsuna snickered. "Hey, say it once more? I didn't catch it the first time. Or the second."

One of his eyebrows twitched. I wondered when Setsuna would realise that she would be receiving extra homework for the foreseeable future.

"Let's just get going," Itsuka said. She was ever the responsible one.

They made their way out of the building, still being careful to watch out for and avoid my bug bodies. It didn't seem that they would be making any more mistakes.

I grabbed my Skitter mask off the table, securing it onto my face. I double-checked that the bugs I wanted were on my person, then left the control room.

Time for things to get personal.

-o-o-o-

It wasn't making any sense. Other than the slight spot of trouble that they had at the staircase, things were going far _too_ smoothly.

By his side, the rest of Monoma's team were chatting animatedly, having left Training Ground Gamma behind. Now, they were on the path approximately halfway back to the stadium. Following the retrieval of Kan-sensei, they'd encountered even fewer of Taylor's minions than on their way into the training ground itself.

"Stay on guard," he warned.

"You're being too paranoid, Monoma-san. Lighten up a little!" Tokage said.

"Monoma-san's right. This is Taylor-san we're talking about," Kendou agreed. Finally, at least someone had some sense.

"Man, you're all becoming just like her. I've got an eye and ear scouting ahead, and there's nothing as far as I can tell."

They had copied what they'd done back in the Training Ground, using both his and Tokage's quirks to look out for any threats. For the last five minutes, they hadn't come across anything.

Their path was lined by trees on either side. Nowhere quite near as dense as a forest, but a decent way of hiding some of Taylor's minions nonetheless. He was meticulously sending an eye out into and between the trees and undergrowth, making sure that they were completely clear. Tokage looked out along the main path itself.

They stayed in formation, with Shiozaki, Komori and Kan-sensei staying about five to ten metres behind Kendou and Tokage in the front, giving some room for the Shakers to act in the event of an ambush from the front. Pony and himself flanked the two on either side, allowing them to react to an attack from the back. It was an organisation they had agreed upon earlier in the day, utilising what they'd learned from Taylor's lessons.

"Armband: how much further are we?" Pony asked.

"Given current walking speed, location of objective is approximately ten minutes away."

"Sweet! Ten minutes and we'll be done with all of this!" Setsuna said. "What do you guys want to do after we're done, anyway?"

"Stay focused," Monoma snapped.

"Fine, fine. Sheesh, you need to learn to relax. Hey –"

She paused mid-sentence. He tensed up, sending his eye looking around. Did she spot something?

"What's wrong?" Kendou asked, enlarging her hands. She remained silent for another second.

"What is it, Tokage-san?" Shiozaki asked, growing out her hair to the sides, preparing to send them launching out at any threat.

"Oh, my God," Setsuna uttered. "Boss fight."

_What?_

His unspoken question was answered a few seconds later at the sight of Taylor _riding_ a giant beetle just slightly larger than his own size, rapidly moving toward them. Since when could she even do that? The rest gave cries of alarm, preparing to unleash their quirks. Hurriedly, he recalled the body parts he'd sent off into the trees.

Of course, it was at that moment that two more massive bugs came leaping off trees on either side, tackling Shiozaki and Komori to the ground. How had he missed them?

_She's taking out the Shakers._

Damn, Taylor was getting serious.

-o-o-o-

They weren't at all prepared for my ambush. Sure, Setsuna might have seen me coming for them, but that was exactly what I'd planned for.

I had kept the bugs that I'd empowered with Administration's version of Rachel's power hidden within the top branches of trees on either side, then backtracked down the path to the stadium. Once they'd passed just halfway through the tree-lined path, I had ordered the giant beetle I was riding to move toward them.

My power was simultaneously similar and markedly different from Rachel's own. My bugs didn't have the power or speed of her dogs, barely qualifying for a mild Brute and Mover rating of their own, but I had control where she didn't. I traded off fine control of all other bugs and range for unnatural strength and enhanced senses of the three empowered bugs that I had under my command, allowing Administration to somehow actually process the visual input of those bugs into something I could comprehend.

I much preferred having access to the senses and movements of all my bugs, but it was a necessary handicap for me to properly test my students. I had no plans to use my Shaker power just yet, unless they impressed me enough and showed that they could deal with just this part of my power alone. If I really wanted to, I could probably overwhelm them with the bugs of my base power very easily without ever being spotted.

I had chosen my bugs carefully for this test. In my time as a Ward, I had diligently continued my research of bugs to find variants that would be useful against the Slaughterhouse Nine. Back then, most were too small in scale to be of much use in a fight. Today, however, I put that knowledge to good use. A giant flying beetle not unlike Atlas for flight and durability, a Darwin's Bark spider for its immensely strong silk, and a bombardier beetle for its caustic chemical spray. My power didn't increase their size and strength, but also the volume of chemicals contained within their glands.

The bombardier beetles had glands that stored hydroquinone and hydrogen peroxide. I didn't fully understand the chemistry, but in my test run of the empowered insect I had launched a barrage of boiling acid by mixing the two chemicals together, managing to slowly melt through the other bugs that I had tested them on. It wasn't very strong, far weaker than Acidbath's and probably Mina's acid, but given sufficient time it would do some damage. Needless to say, I would be carefully regulating the use and targeting of that particular defence mechanism.

"Holy –" Setsuna turned to look at the commotion behind her as Kinoko screamed. It seemed like she still couldn't handle giant spiders.

Setsuna shouldn't have gotten distracted. My beetle rapidly closed the distance toward her, sending her flying backward. In midair, she split her body, allowing her to avoid impact with the floor. Itsuka quickly intercepted my mount with one fist reared back, and I ordered the beetle to leap backwards, holding on to a portion of its carapace with my hand.

Kinoko and Ibara were down, pounced upon by the spider and bombardier beetle hiding in the treeline. I had my spider simply release a large volume of silk onto the downed Kinoko, not bothering with grace or finesse in capturing her. Against a Brute, the silk probably wouldn't hold, but with her tiny frame she could only struggle feebly against her bindings.

She was the easier of the two Shakers to disable, and now the element of surprise was gone. The spider grabbed hold of her with its front two limbs, preparing to take her away from the group.

One down.

"Shit!" Neito swore, switching over to Itsuka's quirk. As the closer of the two Brutes, he moved to help the two Shakers. Weighed down as it was, my spider couldn't dodge his assault while holding Kinoko. I had it release her from its grip, then sent it darting off to the side, cleanly avoiding his crude swipe. Pony's horns were flying around, trying to pin down all three of my bugs, but unlike most of her opponents during today's matches I could match her speed for speed.

Ibara pushed herself to stand, putting distance between herself and my bombardier beetle as Pony's horns kept it away from the Shaker. Quickly, she lengthened her hair, trying to catch the two bugs closest to her while they leapt into and out of the treeline to avoid her quirk.

"What do we do?" Pony asked, eyes darting around on all sides as my bugs moved rapidly, alternating between attacking and hiding. Her horns were being obstructed by trees and other foliage, while my bugs had no problem navigating in this environment.

"I don't know!" Neito shouted, still holding on to Itsuka's quirk, trying to get Kinoko free from the mess of webs. I couldn't let that happen. "We need to –"

I had both my bugs hiding in the trees closest to him leaping out at the same time, sending him flying backward. Ibara and Pony reacted quickly, sending their quirks toward my bugs, but I had my bombardier beetle release a spray of its noxious chemical concoction. It met vines and horns with a hiss of gas, melting through the organic matter, sizzling as it seeped into the ground below.

"Holy hell, what _is_ that stuff?" Kinoko said, still struggling against her webs, unable to employ her quirk in any meaningful way.

"Acid! Don't get hit!" Ibara must have recognised it based on how similar it was to Mina's quirk during their earlier battle.

"You're using fucking _acid?_" Setsuna asked disbelievingly, as she and Itsuka attempted to engage me while riding on my beetle. What attacks I couldn't avoid I had my beetle take, its hard chitin carapace easily taking the damage without consequence.

"Didn't Hizashi-sensei warn you that you'll have tougher opponents for this exercise?" I said for the first time.

"Yeah, but I thought he meant Ectoplasm-sensei clones, not acid-spewing giant insects!"

"Not my fault you misinterpreted," I said casually, continuing to avoid attacks while my other bugs kept the other three at bay. They simply didn't _understand_ this exercise.

"Shiozaki-san! Use your quirk to form a net; try to limit their movements!" Neito ordered. She nodded, sending her vines out at all angles to latch around trees rather than converging them in an attempt to capture my bugs as she'd done before.

Not a bad plan normally, but he was badly misinformed. They weren't facing human opponents.

My spider simply danced along the vines, moving deftly as they shifted. It was most at home traversing along its webs, and these vines were not much different. The beetle simply continued spraying acid to melt its way through the vines, its movements between the group and the trees unimpeded.

"Damn! Alright, Kendou-san, switch places! Tokage-san and I will take Taylor-san, you three try to restrain these bugs and get Komori-san free!"

With that, Neito advanced forward toward me. Itsuka must have trusted in his judgment, because she leapt backward, trying to grapple the bugs whenever they appeared. Their group couldn't make any headway into rescuing Kinoko, harried by the two bugs as they were.

"That plan won't work," I informed him.

"Won't know unless we try!" He gritted his teeth, attempting to attack me. He was stubborn. A good quality for a hero, sure, but he needed to understand when to accept my words at face value. I needed to show him just _why_ it wouldn't work.

I leapt off my beetle, allowing it to fight Setsuna on its own. The two of them must have been surprised, because Neito paused in his attack, while my beetle barrelled right into Setsuna once again.

It took a moment before Neito came at me. His form was wide and sloppy. There was none of the polished grace that Itsuka had in using her own quirk, reflecting his inexperience with actually making good use of his teammate's quirks.

I moved to meet him head-on. He hesitated for a second, and I brought my body low, ducking below his swing. His quirk may have enhanced the power of his arms, but it did nothing for his weight. If anything, it shifted his centre of gravity slightly forward, which I capitalised on as I grabbed his leading arm, supporting it with my stump and back from below, and threw him harshly into the ground.

"What the –" he managed to say, right before colliding with the ground. I timed my attack perfectly, with the bombardier beetle releasing another spray of acid to force the trio to dodge, freeing up the Darwin's Bark spider to come and assist me. Another ejection of silk later, Neito was down.

People never expected the insect Master to fight up close. I always made sure they reconsidered that.

Two down.

"She's got Monoma-san!" Pony shouted. My spider was returning to face them now, the beetle having since stopped its caustic spray.

"Damn!" Setsuna swore again, reforming her whole body. She must have hit a hard limit on her quirk. "Alright, regroup! Four of us bunch up together!"

Bad plan. They were making worse and worse judgment calls as the fight went on.

"Again, not going to work."

They either didn't hear my words, or simply chose to ignore them. The four remaining students stood together back to back, having abandoned attempts to rescue Kinoko or Neito. I mounted my beetle once more, while the other two bugs hid themselves among the trees.

I took the moment to take a look at Kan. He was evaluating the fight, amused. This entire time, my students had forgotten about him, leaving him standing at the back.

I sighed. It seemed like a beatdown was the only way they would accept that their plan just wouldn't work.

From high up on a tree branch, my beetle released another spray of acid right in the middle of the group of four. They panicked, dispersing to all four sides.

"Holy shit, Taylor-chan's crazy!" Setsuna shouted as she dodged the chemical spray. It didn't matter; I'd been called worse during my time with the Chicago Wards. So long as they learned, this would all be worth it.

I seized the opportunity, ordering my spider to pounce onto Ibara the instant that their formation was destroyed.

"Shiozaki-san!" Itsuka called out. Horns and body parts tried to wrest the spider away.

Too late for her. Another spray of webs took Ibara out of the fight.

Three down.

"This is so unfair!" Setsuna said.

_Finally_, she was getting it.

"That's the point."

"What?" she asked, dumbfounded, pausing in her attempt to chase down my bugs.

I allowed them the slight reprieve. I wasn't looking to defeat them. I only wanted to give them a very important lesson. "You aren't going to be fighting fair fights all the time in the field. Remember what I said on Friday?"

"Exploit the events, cheat, fight smart, abuse any weakness?" Pony recited.

I nodded. "The way I structured this fight _wasn't_ fair for you. You've all been fighting me wrongly this entire time. I've planned this attack for you to have several ways to deal with me and complete the exercise, but I can assure you that whatever you've been doing is not one of them."

"What do we do?" Itsuka asked.

"I'm going to give you a second chance," I said. I turned to look at Kan. "If that's alright with you, of course?"

He shrugged. "No problem with me. I'm curious to see how they handle it, myself."

"I'll give you a minute to recover and plan. We'll begin right after the point where you've been taken by my ambush. Sorry, Kinoko, but that means you stay webbed."

"Fine," she pouted.

I had my beetle very carefully erode its way through the silk keeping Neito bound to the floor. "One minute," I repeated. Then, I made my way over to Kan while the students began plotting. Without the ability to properly sift through the senses of the rest of my insects without sounds sounding like anything more than garbled nonsense, I couldn't quite hear them talking.

"Think they'll figure it out?" I asked.

"Maybe," he said. "They've done well for the rest of this exercise. You're being kind of hard on them, aren't you?"

"This is me going easy. I'm not very used to fighting with these bugs."

"Since when could you do that, anyway? I've never seen you use these enlarged bugs before?"

I shrugged. "Never really needed to use them before today. It was the only way I could reasonably test them without going overboard."

He began to whisper, soft enough that it couldn't be picked up by the microphones feeding back to the stadium. "You sure it's wise to show that much of your abilities?"

"It's not that much, really. I haven't shown my Shaker power or the full scope of control over my bugs. If anything, it makes my power more believable as a Bug Control quirk," I whispered back. It was enough to demonstrate that I was the real deal, deserving of the special position I'd been given in the school. Hopefully it could fast-track me on the way to a full Hero Licence as well. At the same time, my current and future enemies wouldn't know what I was fully capable of.

"If you say so. Still, be careful," he said cautiously. I nodded, then checked my armband.

"Alright, minute's up!" I told the group. They ceased discussion immediately, looking toward me with determination. That was a promising sign.

I mounted my beetle once more. "Alright. Begin!"

I had my bombardier beetle fire acid, but this time they were prepared.

"Acid!" Pony shouted. Ibara was ready, and intercepted the globule of hot liquid with a thick mess of vines. At the same time, Setsuna had split her body into multiple pieces, cutting through the webs keeping Kinoko bound.

I had my spider and the beetle I was riding charge the group. Neito and Itsuka employed their Brute quirks, taking on my beetle together, while Pony focused all her horns on keeping my spider away from Setsuna and Kinoko. As soon as the acid stopped, Ibara reorganised her vines, assisting Pony in maintaining a field of control to prevent the spider from approaching Kinoko.

Good. They didn't panic and break formation the same way they had previously.

I continued poking and prodding, but their formation remained intact. I had the bombardier beetle try to release more sprays of acid, but Itsuka and Neito took advantage of its temporary reduced mobility each time it tried to aim its attack to land their own strikes, forcing my beetle to dodge and abandon its attempts.

Within moments, Kinoko was free. I had my bugs return to the treeline, waiting for the next part of their plan. Would they surprise me?

"Alright! Phase two!" Neito ordered.

He swapped over to Pony's quirk, sending horns into the air. All six of the students grabbed hold of a horn, while one flew over to Kan.

"Grab it!" Pony shouted. "We're moving out of the trees!"

Excellent. They were thinking. Removing my bugs' ability to ambush them was one possible way to reduce my advantage and complete the scenario, provided they remained cautious.

The seven of them raced along the path. I sent my bugs in pursuit. Kinoko was rapidly shooting her spores and growing them along the path, slowing my bugs down fractionally.

Pony's horns would probably normally be faster in linear speed, but I was forcing the group to dodge lines of silk and streams of acid all the way. Still, though, they managed to clear the path to where the treeline ended before my bugs managed to catch up.

"Alright, Kan-sensei! You're heading off to the stadium!"

I was impressed. That was _two_ potential victory scenarios they'd combined together.

Kan didn't waste any time. Pony took him as far as her horn would carry him, then he'd dismounted and began running back to the stadium. He would take another four or five minutes or so at his pace, probably.

"We just need to take his device back to the stadium and we win, right?" Setsuna said cheekily.

I nodded. "You'll have to hold out for a few minutes," I pointed out. Then, I struck.

Even without the cover of trees, my bugs had the advantage in manoeuvrability. They lost at linear velocity, but they had greater balance, and could arrest their momentum and change directions far more easily than humans. I swapped mounts, letting my beetle barrel through the two Brutes at the head of their group, falling onto the spider I'd positioned below.

"We're going with plan B!" Neito shouted.

Plan B?

The two Brutes mounted on two of Pony's horns, hands enlarged. Then, Pony sent the horns flying toward my beetle, as the Brutes stretched their hands out to the side.

Interesting. They planned to combine their quirks?

My beetle tried to dodge, but their charge covered far too much area. It couldn't move sideways far enough, or avoid the horns by flying, so I simply let it tank the hit. It wouldn't die, but it still suffered a crack in its carapace.

I did the next best thing I could, and unleashed a wave of acid. Ibara intercepted it with her vines, just as I'd planned. My spider mount launched itself toward the group, leaping over the field of mushrooms that Kinoko had set up. I rolled off its back, delivering a gut punch at the mushroom Shaker while the spider continued on in its path of attack toward Setsuna's floating torso. She tried to dodge in mid-air, but my spider hunted for a living. She was tackled to the ground, torso and head stuck in place with webs while her limbs remained in the air. Even if she separated her body into chunks, the sticky silk would continue holding them together.

Kinoko managed to tag me with a couple of spores before I hit her. They grew into mushrooms on my costume, weighing me down slightly. Smart, but now she was on the ground once more. She tried to get up, but my spider leapt backwards once Setsuna's torso was restrained to the ground, beginning to repeat what it had already done to the Shaker. Again, she took the chance to grow mushrooms to weigh down my spider, but then was rendered immobile once more.

One and a half down.

"Kinoko-chan!" Setsuna's head shouted from the ground.

My bombardier beetle had run out of acid by this point, having been too liberal in its use over the past engagements. I would have to make do with just its physical abilities. I sent it to charge into Ibara, while Setsuna divided her limbs further to launch a barrage of sharp-edged fleshy bits into its carapace. They found purchase, drawing some ichor from the haemolymph of my insect, but it continued on in its path. With her vines wrecked by acid, she couldn't immediately regrow new ones to intercept the insect and was forced to take the hit.

I took stock over the situation with my more durable flying beetle. Itsuka and Monoma were trading blows with it. Pony had recalled her horns, believing the Brute duo capable of dealing with that insect on their own. More cracks had appeared over its body, leaking some of the liquid of its open circulatory system. The students didn't escape unscathed either; bruises and cuts were beginning to form where they'd been tackled or sent tumbling toward the ground.

Pony's horns came flying toward me, and I was forced to take a hit before I managed to mount the spider once more. It wasn't too painful, but it would probably bruise. I'd better take things up a notch.

I allowed another beetle to crawl out from inside my costume, empowering it while the other three bugs shrunk slightly. A trade-off between what Administration could do in terms of power and numbers, probably.

"You can do that?" Setsuna asked, her face and body still locked with her back against the ground.

I could do much more. I could have swapped the bombardier beetle for a fresh one with acid, or for undamaged bugs to replace those I already had, but that would be overkill. My experiences with Theo taught me that people learned best when fought at a level just slightly beyond what they were capable of.

"Get ready," I warned. While the two Brutes were still locked in combat with my first beetle, trying to assist the rest of their group but were being repeatedly intercepted, I had my fresh beetle weathering an assault from the bits of Setsuna's arms and legs with its thicker carapace, covering for its fellow beetle comrade. The bombardier beetle took the chance to continue pinning Ibara to the ground while she was downed. She tried using her quirk to shake the insect off, but it refused to budge.

Kinoko, Ibara and part of Setsuna were down. She couldn't maintain the separation of her limbs for much longer, probably. Neito and Itsuka were trying to fend off the beetle without much success, its resilience far more than most foes they'd faced. I could afford to sacrifice the beetle, after all, while humans had some degree of self-preservation. Pony was trying her best, but she had to deal with a spider and beetle with only her horns and Setsuna's assistance.

It was a valiant effort, but moments later she too fell alongside the other three of her group. She'd tried riding on her horns, but before she could gain enough altitude to get out of my insect's reach my spider was able to pounce on her and send her to the ground.

Four down. Only the Brutes remained.

"Damn it! Plan C!" With a grunt, Neito grappled the beetle as it attacked. He gave a wince of pain as he was forced back several steps. That hit might have bruised or broken ribs, but he held on regardless. A valiant effort. "Now, Kendou-san!"

She roared, raising both fists upward, then slammed them down onto the beetle. Once, twice, thrice, and then the beetle disappeared from the sense of my power. It shrunk to its normal size, disappearing into the ground.

"There's still three more," I told them.

They looked determined, but their confidence wavered as I moved my bugs to surround them. An intimidation and distraction tactic, forcing them to divide their attention between three targets. When their attention shifted, I would strike.

Neito's eyes darted to one side.

_Now_.

The bombardier beetle charged. It didn't have quite the same speed, strength or weight as the other beetle, but with the injuries he'd already sustained Neito couldn't dodge in time. He tumbled to the ground, struggling to stand as he was pinned down by a pair of mandibles. Itsuka clearly wanted to assist, but my spider and remaining beetle were making her reconsider.

Very good. She was thinking rationally. If she moved to help Neito right then, she would lose handily.

I looked down at my armband, finding Kan's own coordinates. Then, I smiled.

The purpose of this exercise wasn't to defeat or humiliate my students. As before, I wanted to test their limits, but offer them a valid way of achieving victory. I'd planned out their task in a way that would allow both for me to demonstrate that I was no simple pushover, but also to showcase just what my students were capable of and reward them for their efforts. It was a win-win situation; a victory for both parties.

"Good work," I said.

Present Mic's voice came through. "Taylor-san! Kan-sensei has reached the stadium!"

"Holy crap! We did it!" Setsuna's disembodied arms were raised into a cheer. "Um, some help over here, Itsuka-chan?"

"Right!" She hurried over, moving to free her trapped teammates from my spider's silk.

I retracted the power I held over my bugs, causing them to shrink once more. It took several more seconds before my power's range returned to its normal limits, alongside the senses and control over the millions of bugs within my domain. Now, the stadium was once again within the range of my power, and I could hear the applause and roars of the crowd amidst Hizashi's commentary.

"…_that, the team has bought enough time for the scientist to deliver the device! Hive Mind's creatures have been disabled, and the students successfully saved the city! Please, a round of applause for our brave students and our teaching assistant, Taylor-san!" _

I tuned the commentary out. We'd be going back to the stadium, anyway. I ripped off the mushrooms still stuck to my costume, then helped Neito up from where he was on the ground. He smiled thankfully at me, wincing in pain while getting to his feet. "Careful. You'll need to see Recovery Girl after all this," I said.

"Yeah," he said. "You really went all out, huh?"

"Not really," I said. His face fell. "Honestly, if you were an enemy, I'd just swarm you with bugs. Far easier and less risky for me."

"Do you really have to be so direct?" he winced.

I remembered how training Theo and the wards had been like. At the beginning, some of my more ruthless methods weren't quite well-received. Theo tolerated my training, if only because he was forced to face Jack Slash again, but the others hadn't appreciated the way I handled things. Beyond Tecton, I wasn't close with any of the other wards. Grace had been the most hostile of them. This was a chance for me to avoid the mistakes I'd made before.

"Sorry," I said. I wasn't sure whether or not I fully meant what I'd said. It was excellent for their education, but there might be hard feelings after all this was done. "You did great. A little inexperienced, but we can change that. More importantly, you have all the right attitudes. You try to fight smart, you work with your team, and you don't give up. Doesn't always work out, but that's more to do with inexperience. You could do with a little less of your self-sacrificial tendencies though, at least until you get more experience."

"Hey Taylor-chan, Monoma-san!" Setsuna waved. "Sick work, Monoma-san! You guys alright? Let's head back!"

"We'll talk later. All of you," I told them. They nodded. Carefully, with Itsuka and I supporting Neito's weight, we made our way back to the stadium.

All the while, I could feel the sense of pride coming from my passenger mixed together with my own. It seemed that Administration was growing fond of my students.

-o-o-o-

We were greeted with the audience's applause once we arrived in the stadium. I stepped back, allowing my students their time in the spotlight. Hizashi began to pester them with questions.

"I take it things went well?" Aizawa asked. This time, I was prepared for his entrance, having noted his position with my bugs.

I nodded. "They performed admirably. Didn't succeed on their first try, but they improved. How's things with Todoroki?"

He winced slightly, then sighed. "Some progress, but there's a lot more to unpack. I would talk about it with you, but I don't think he'd want that just yet."

"I understand," I said. "If you've got it covered, that's fine. Do you need me to handle anything with Endeavour?"

I was beginning to dislike him as a person, now that I had a picture of him based on what I'd seen and what I'd eavesdropped upon. He was what Armsmaster might have been, if he were a Blaster with an even more exaggerated sense of self-importance rather than an asocial Tinker. He worked hard as a hero, but didn't have the qualities I associated with one.

"I'm not sure if you can do anything about that," he said.

Someone like him would probably need a huge shake-up to his ego. Armsmaster had only become Defiant after Mannequin had basically left him at death's door, while Dragon helped save him and change his worldview.

"Yeah. I'll continue reading up on him and think up some ideas. Tell me if you need any help with Todoroki. The younger one, Shouto," I corrected.

"Will do," he said lazily. Then he pointed. "Hizashi is going to be calling for you soon, probably."

The two must have been way closer friends than I'd been led to believe, because sure enough he took a break from singing praises of my students.

"And of course, we have our brilliant teaching assistant, Taylor Hebert herself! We've seen her brilliant mind in the planning of the day's events, but now we've also seen her in action! And boy, does she pack a mean punch!"

Some members of the audience laughed. I wasn't sure if he was referring to my powers, or my literal engagement of Neito and Kinoko in close combat.

"Come, Taylor-san, join your students up on the stage!"

I maintained my composure the entire time, letting none of my discomfort show. I was cheating, of course, making my bugs move around undetected to work off my emotions. This wasn't the same kind of attention I'd received in my time as Skitter and for most of my career as Weaver. This was more akin to that disastrous talk show I'd been forced to attend with the Wards just before Khonsu's first appearance.

I waved stoically at the crowd amidst cheers and applause as Setsuna eagerly ushered me to the front. I tried to make sense of the crowd's emotions through my bugs' senses, but this was a fairly new thing to me. Sure, I could sense that they were emotionally heightened, but I wasn't quite certain exactly what they thought. Were they wary, excited, or simply pleased to find something new in this Festival?

"Do you have any thoughts regarding the exercise, Taylor-san?" Hizashi's voice boomed over the system. I moved toward the microphone placed on the stage.

"They did well, all of them. They faced some difficulties, but they recovered well and completed the exercise. I'm proud of them."

"And what of yourself, Taylor-san? We've seen the students in action, but is there anything you'd like to tell about yourself?"

This was it, then. My debut. I thought over the points that the teachers had suggested for my introduction to the world of heroics.

Of course, just like my first debut as Weaver, I forgot what I'd wanted to say. I was supposed to talk about my desire to be a hero and to affirm my commitment to helping society, among other details.

Just as I'd done before, I improvised.

"My name is Taylor Hebert," I said. "You've seen my quirk in action, so I won't talk about that. I'm training to become a hero. I'm a little bit more experienced than the rest of my students, due to some past circumstances I won't talk about. I'll be helping the teachers in training my peers, particularly those with quirks I've worked with before."

What else to add? What I'd said during my first debut wouldn't make sense in this society. It was too stable and peaceful to talk about pledging to fight off threats like Leviathan, the Slaughterhouse Nine and other evils. Might as well help bring a positive spin for UA to recover from the tournament. "I want to thank Principal Nezu and all the teachers at UA for helping me to become a hero, and for giving me the chance to help with planning this event. I'm not sure if it went entirely as you'd expected –"

A wave of cheers broke out. Hopefully that meant something positive.

"- but hopefully it was enjoyable. I think the students have a lot to reflect on from their experiences today. I hope to continue working with them as we train to become heroes here in UA," I continued.

Perhaps a throwback to my first appearance back in Earth Bet? "When and if I do become a hero, you can call me Weaver."

With that, I stepped back. Another round of applause broke out, the students by my side joining them. I gave them a curt nod.

"Alright! And with that, we end the Sports Festival for the first years! Coming up next will be the second and third years, although with simpler events, of course! Please continue tuning in, dear listeners, as we see what our students can show us today!"

My job for the day was done. I wasn't going to be involved in those events. I turned to address my students.

"Good work, all of you. Get yourself patched up with Recovery Girl. Talk among yourselves, think about how everything went and reflect on areas of improvement. We'll have a discussion later."

"Again?" Setsuna whined. I glared at her. "Fine, fine. If you say so, Taylor-chan."

"I'll meet you in a classroom later."

"No, better idea!" Kinoko perked up. "We'll all go out for dinner today and talk about it then! How's that sound, guys?"

The rest readily gave their agreement. I looked at them suspiciously.

"You've discussed this beforehand, haven't you?"

She nodded unashamedly. A small smile formed on my face. This was almost like how Emma and I had been, before I had returned from that summer camp where everything had changed. This wasn't Earth Bet, I wasn't Skitter the villain, Weaver the hero, or Taylor the bullied girl. Here, I was Taylor, hero-in-training.

"Fine," I told them.

-o-o-o-

I found myself back in the same restaurant we'd been in on Friday. Setsuna favoured this place for some reason.

"Right," I began, after we'd all placed out orders. "Initial thoughts?"

"We kind of sucked?" Setsuna offered. "You pretty much took us all on by yourself."

I shook my head. "Don't feel too bad about that. Train your quirks a bit more, get some more experience in dealing with opponents like those and you'll do fine. Good work on combining your quirks, by the way."

"Yeah, Monoma-san, great job!" Setsuna said, shoving his shoulder enthusiastically.

He sighed. "Still wasn't enough, though."

"Keep working at it. Come up with some more ways to work with each other's quirks, and you'll be even more versatile as a team." He still looked glum. "Don't worry about it. It took me four months before I felt comfortable enough with my power to go out on my own, and another one or two months of nearly daily danger before I became experienced. Any other thoughts?"

They were clearly interested in my past, but I steered the conversation away. Itsuka offered the next discussion point. "We need to work with more situations. We did fine in the first two events, since they're similar enough to your classes, but facing you and your bugs in person was completely different."

I nodded. "Fair point. I'll see if I can let you fight my bugs in class, but it might breed unhealthy habits. You won't be fighting giant spiders or beetles in the real world, after all. I might pit you all against each other and see how you perform."

"Like the tournament? Pony-san and I managed to make our way up, but it just felt really…" Ibara struggled to find the right word for a moment, then gave up. "…wrong."

"Yeah," Pony agreed. "I won by making sure Kirishima-san and Ojiro-san couldn't hit me and just poking at them with my remaining horns, but I couldn't do a thing to Iida-san."

"As you've said, that's how the real world works. Bad matchups happen, or in some cases they're decided by the flip of a coin. Take the match between Ibara and Setsuna, for example. In my world, at least, capes that go solo don't tend to last for very long. They're either killed or absorbed into other organisations. It's why I'm getting you all to work with each other."

I took a sip of my tea while they mulled over my words. "Alright. Anything regarding areas of improvement?"

"I'll need to work on technique," Neito considered. "You managed to beat me easily one-on-one even when I used Kendou-san's quirk."

I nodded. "Get Itsuka to teach you some things, or I might be able to help a little. My fighting style would be very different from what best utilises her quirk, though. I'll need to come up with something for myself as well, now that I only have one hand available."

"I'll need to learn some of that too. I couldn't do a thing, even with my mushrooms," Kinoko agreed. Good, it would come as a surprise to her enemies when the fragile Shaker manages to execute some decent fighting in close combat.

"We could use some better situation judgment and reacting to enemy actions. We did almost everything wrongly the first time you caught us out," Setsuna said. "Any suggestions?"

I thought over her question. What worked with the Wards? The most effective method seemed to be our sessions where we'd come up with hypotheticals against all members of the Slaughterhouse Nine.

"Discuss among yourselves and think up some situations and ways you might counter them. For my part, we can talk about how you could handle different types of quirks, using some examples from my world." I wondered how they would react to the likes of the Siberian or Gray Boy. Those powers were bullshit in-and-of themselves, even before factoring how they worked with the other members of the Nine.

The food came at that point, temporarily interrupting our conversation. I dug in readily, the events of the day having burned quite some amount of energy.

"Hey, Taylor?" Pony asked, midway through the meal. I paused. "Will you ever tell us more about yourself?"

"…maybe," I said after a long pause. "I'll think about it."

Setsuna mimed a silent cheer.

_Amusement_, my passenger conveyed. It seemed that Administration was really liking this bunch of students.

We didn't talk much for the rest of the dinner, but I felt comfortable with my new group of friends.

-o-o-o-

Shigaraki Tomura turned off the television following the conclusion of Taylor Hebert's exercise.

An 'exercise', they'd called it. Pah! The entire festival was obviously heavily inspired by video games. He didn't take Weaver as someone who was interested in them, but clearly he was wrong. The first event played out like some kind of MMORPG, giving players different ways of gearing up and gathering EXP. The second event, as that student had noted to his amusement, was a horror survival game mixed together with a battle royale. The tournament, a simple fighting game, was boring in comparison.

Then came Taylor Hebert's exercise. An open-world stealth game mixed together with RPG elements and an actual escort quest, complete with NPC. Then a boss fight, coupled together with actual boss battle music played over the speakers by that loud-mouthed teacher.

This Taylor Hebert was becoming more interesting by the minute. He'd known her true identity as Weaver from the start, of course, given the similarities of her costume with the damaged black-themed one she'd arrived at USJ in. Once she'd changed her costume for her exercise, there was no doubt regarding her identity.

She employed abilities he hadn't seen her use in USJ. She used the enlarged insects to take her students down, but didn't use the same numbers in her swarm or the strange ability to create hands of different materials that enabled her to entrap the Noumu. Sensei had been equally intrigued when Shigaraki had mentioned her multiple quirks two weeks ago. He hadn't remembered ever gifting someone quirks like those, much less in that combination.

Then there was the matter of her speech. 'Past circumstances', she'd said. Was she referring to her past as a villain, gaining experience through fighting other heroes? The methods she employed were more brutal than most heroes as well. Acid and giant insects? And the things she taught her student were oh so interesting! 'Abuse the system, cheat, exploit all weaknesses'? Betray teammates if necessary for a win?

She was clearly a villain at heart. He wondered why she rejected his offer, why she was so adamant about becoming a hero.

No matter. In time, she would join the League of Villains. He would discuss the matter with Sensei.

And if she didn't, well, she wouldn't have much of a choice. There were ways of forcing loyalty. They still had the Noumu and the rest of his useless minions that Kurogiri had helped retrieve in USJ.

Of course, if she continued to refuse, some punishment was in order. Perhaps he could kill her students in front of her. Some things to think about.

He turned the television back on, finding a decent game to play. Perhaps a stealth game; that exercise had reminded him of some games he hadn't yet finished.

* * *

**Hopefully that wasn't too much of a slog. Not sure when I'll continue to work on the next chapter, but I'll probably be moving on to the internship arc.**

**For the rest of the story, I think I'll be making All for One and other villains a little more competent than in canon. He'll probably play a bigger role, and I may not have him face up against All Might just yet. I might be moving away from traditional shonen style fights and plots, we'll see. I might also introduce some darker and more realistic elements from the setting of Worm into society of BNHA if they make any sense.**


	12. Setting the Stage

**Here's a chapter to lay out the groundwork for things to come. Kind of boring, but necessary in a way. Wrote it in one sitting, haven't done any proofreading for language or actual thinking of whether it makes sense, but I'll just upload it. I can edit it again later. Hopefully I don't regret it.**

**Thanks for all the reviews that have been left. I know pacing and character interaction with the cast is a big issue right now, and I hope that I can address it going forward. Special shoutout to TheHysteric for his very lengthy and thorough mammoth of a review. If anyone has any other suggestions or critique, or simply a burning desire to call me out on my very blatant Taylor powerwank falsely given the misnomer of a story, please do drop me a PM or review.**

**With this, we've broken 100k words in just around 3 weeks! I was expecting only less than maybe fifty or so people to read this story, but your responses have been overwhelming. I find it very interesting how there's a visible difference in visitor count between the disaster that is chapter 3 and chapter 4. For those that stuck around, I'm not going to judge your collective tastes in masochism, but thank you nonetheless. Sorry for the inevitable disappointment to come.**

**I don't normally respond to individual reviews within a chapter, but I can't send a message to an anonymous reviewer otherwise. legion29, drop me a PM if you can.**

* * *

**Chapter 12: Setting the Stage**

Two days after the Sports Festival, I had been asked to attend a meeting with the other teachers before classes began for the day. Kan, Nemuri, Aizawa, Hizashi and Nezu were already in attendance. Probably something related to the hero classes, then.

I had been busy for the last day, putting the day off that we'd been given after the festival to good use. I had been researching all the information I could find regarding two major issues that had come up during the tournament. As it turned out, society here wasn't as simple as I'd been led to believe when I first arrived.

Iida's brother was the hero Ingenium. Well-loved by the public and renowned for his speed-based quirk that ran in the Iida family, he'd been attacked by a villain only minutes before the final round of the tournament. He would live, thankfully, but with the injuries suffered he had become paralysed from the waist down. His prognosis for recovery was poor, given that this world had no healers on par with the likes of Panacea or Bonesaw.

He had been hunting for the Hero-Killer, Stain. I'd heard snippets and passing comments about him before, but hadn't taken the time to look him up given my focus on planning for the festival. When I finally did that just yesterday, I was strongly reminded of some of the villains from my world.

While he shared his moniker with Behemoth, his kill count wasn't anywhere near as high. Nevertheless, with his seventeen known murders and twenty-three acts of irreparably crippling heroes, he'd have possibly earned a Kill Order or at least a Birdcage sentence back on Earth Bet. My search hadn't revealed anything related to his abilities or his quirk. All I understood was his modus operandi. He'd taken to secluded alleyways to carry out ambushes, often ending fights within instants.

More than likely he'd have a significant Striker or Stranger power, if his method of choice was so restricted. I just didn't know exactly _what_ it was.

I needed to talk to Iida. I'd seen capes fall apart before, and the way he'd shut down during the tournament wasn't a good sign. I would take on the likes of the Hero-Killer myself, but doing so without more information would be foolish. Besides, I _should_ probably find a legal way of doing so before I continued down the path I took in Earth Bet.

Then there was the matter of Endeavour. It seemed that my mental comparison of him with Armsmaster wasn't so far off. He had the highest engagement in villain takedowns, and by all metrics seemed to be an extraordinary hero. Yet, his methods often led to significant collateral damage, and he was generally brash with his adoring fans. Coupled with his attitude toward Shouto, he seemed determined and willing to achieve glory at any cost. Outside of that personality trait, Endeavour appeared to actually be a reasonably decent person.

My plans on that matter were less concrete. I didn't know enough about Shouto to come up with a way to approach him about his resentment toward his father and the half of his quirk that stemmed from him. At least Aizawa had things covered in that aspect.

I had to shelf those thoughts away for later. The meeting was about to begin. Nezu gestured for me to sit at the table, and I took the chance to spy on Hizashi's expression for myself. Good, it seemed like he hadn't figured it out yet.

Maggots were surprisingly easy to hide in a sandwich.

"So!" Nezu began, standing on his chair. "The festival was a great success, largely thanks to the efforts of Taylor here. We've had excellent feedback for the events and the training exercise. In fact, Shiketsu High School is trying to poach you away from me."

He nodded gratefully toward me, and I waved him off. If this meeting was about the festival, there was probably only one thing that it could mean.

"The offers from the heroes are in?" I asked.

Nemuri nodded. "You did a great job, you know. Almost all our students from the hero classes received offers from Pro Heroes, even those that didn't make it to the tournament. Their interests seem to align with how the students went about the first event."

"They'll be able to experience some actual fieldwork, then. They could probably learn some practical applications of their quirks as well, if they're in line with what they did in the festival," I mused. "When will the students be looking at offers?"

"I'll be briefing 1-A about it over the first period. Nemuri will be helping with that," Aizawa said.

"We'll be doing the same right after 1-A. They'll need to pick hero names as well," Kan told me. "I'm guessing from your speech that you'll continue going by Weaver?"

"Yeah," I said. "Sentimental value."

I hadn't chosen the name myself, but grew into it. I didn't care much for cape-names, anyway. Skitter and Khepri hadn't been picked by my own design either.

"You've got many offers as well, you know. You've made quite some waves with your training exercise," Hizashi said, then smirked slyly. "You've even got some memes made about you."

I groaned. I had seen some of those yesterday. People really had far too much time on their hands.

"You want me to go on an internship?" I asked Nezu instead. "I've already got plenty of experience in hero work."

He hummed in consideration for a moment. "Hmm. It's not strictly necessary, but almost all hero course students jump at the chance for practical experience. You have other ideas?"

"I was thinking of starting my training with Shinsou. I'm not sure when you're planning on letting him join the other classes, but he has quite a long way to go before he catches up with them. Outside of his quirk, he's effectively powerless."

"You'll be missing the opportunity to network with heroes," Nezu pointed out.

I considered his point. "It's only for a week. Besides, there'll be more opportunities in the future," I said. I couldn't spare the time to research all the heroes that had sent me offers, anyway.

"I was thinking of working with Shinsou-kun as well," Aizawa said.

"Oh?" I raised an eyebrow.

He nodded. "As you said, he needs training outside of his quirk. I'm most skilled with my capture scarf, but I'm well-versed with other forms of combat as well."

I hadn't seen him in action before, but accepted his words at face value. One didn't progress far with just a power nullification Trump ability alone.

"I'll coordinate with you regarding Shinsou, then," I said. He nodded in agreement.

There was a moment of silence. Nezu took charge. "Right, any other matters?"

"What about Iida?" I said.

The mood turned solemn. With Iida having made his way to the finals, there was a lot of discussion in various media regarding the Hero-Killer. Many were asking for heroes to take him on.

"I'll see if he turns up for classes today," Aizawa said. "He might need some space."

"I'll speak to him if he shows up," I said. "Let me know if you need any help."

"Will do."

At that point, the bell for the first class of the day rang, calling the meeting to a close.

"I'll see you in class," I told Kan as we made our way out.

-o-o-o-

The students were given a day to think over their choices for their upcoming internship experiences. My six students had received the bulk of the offers for our class, with Neito, Setsuna and Ibara topping the list. More than likely they'd impressed some heroes with their performance in the events and the tournament.

They had all chosen their hero names as well. Itsuka had gone by Battle Fist, Neito by Phantom Thief, Setsuna by Lizardy, Ibara by Vine, Kinoko by Shemage and Pony simply went with her own name. Very different from the cape names that I was used to, but hero and civilian identities here were much more closely interlinked in this world.

"You're so popular, Taylor-chan!" Setsuna said as class ended for the day. "You received so many offers!"

"I'm not even accepting any of them," I said. "I'll be working with Aizawa to help with Shinsou."

"So you're saying you'll be giving up the chance to work with a Pro Hero to be with a boy?" she teased.

I sighed. "Not quite what I'm getting at, but yes."

"Lucky him," she commented. "Getting all of Taylor-chan's attention while we're all away."

I spied Iida walking past the corridor, away from Izuku and Uraraka. Perfect timing.

"Hey, talk to you later," I told Setsuna.

"Huh?"

I ignored her. "Hey, Iida!" I said, moving to intercept him. "Wait up!"

"Taylor-san?" Iida asked. He looked better than he did on Monday, but it was clear that he was still out of sorts.

"Just wanted to check up on you. I heard about what happened with your brother. I'm sorry."

"Thank you," he said with a smile. "I'm alright. I'm sorry if I caused any undue concern."

It was a lie. My bugs could sense all his subtle tells. His spine was just a little too stiff; muscles a little too taut.

"Follow me for a second," I told him.

"Taylor-san –"

"Please."

My bugs could still sense his discomfort, but he followed nonetheless. I led him to a classroom, away from prying eyes and ears of our classmates. I gestured for him to sit.

He chose to remain standing. "Taylor-san, what is this about?"

I stared at him for a moment, considering my words. "I can tell you're lying, you know," I began saying.

He gave a polite smile. "Lying? Taylor-san, you must be mistaken –"

"Just listen for a moment, please. You're good at masking your expression, but you aren't fooling my bugs."

He stiffened up. I continued, regardless. "I've seen people in your position before, you know. Endbringer battles or villain attacks, it doesn't matter. In situations like yours, people react differently. Some shut down, some get angry, some don't react at all."

I closed my eyes for a moment, remembering Regent. I recalled how I'd felt when Bonesaw had been torturing Brian. I remembered Rime, dying to Behemoth; Revel, falling before Scion. "One of my teammates died to an Endbringer. We weren't very close, but he was a friend. Another of my teammates was tortured by a villain. I've seen some mentors I trusted die in battle. Trust me when I say that I know how you feel."

"Taylor-san –"

"You're struggling. I know you're putting on a mask. I don't know if you're deceiving your friends in order to protect them, so that they won't bother you or just to put distance between you and them. It doesn't matter. What I'm asking is for you to not lie to yourself."

For several moments, his body shook, the vibrations conveyed through the senses of my bugs. What was he feeling? Anger, rage, frustration? Grief, sadness?

Finally, he slumped over slightly, breaking the facade. "What do you want me to say?" his voice cracked. "Tensei won't ever become a hero again. He wants me to take on the mantle of Ingenium. And Stain…"

His voice trembled, but he didn't say more. I let the silence grow for some time.

"It's not my place to tell you what to do," I said slowly. He looked toward me, eyes just slightly moist. "I don't know what you're planning. People react to grief differently. I wouldn't blame you if you tried going for Stain yourself."

He tensed up. "You know?"

I sighed heavily. Of course he would be the type to seek revenge in the name of justice. "It's what I would have done," I said.

Hell, I _had _done that. When Alexandria had led me to believe that she'd killed my friends, I didn't think about anything else other than revenge. If anything, I'd been more enraged at her than with Coil. With Coil it was necessity mixed in equal part with vengeance; Alexandria was entirely personal.

He didn't respond immediately. Finally, he spoke. "I'm guessing you're telling me not to do that?"

"Would you listen?" I asked instead, then shook my head. I knew his type. I was one of them. He wouldn't be dissuaded from pursuing revenge. "In your shoes, I would do the same. I can't stop you forever. Whether you fight him tomorrow or years later, you won't stop hunting him down. Just please listen to my advice."

That probably wasn't what he was expecting, based on how his tension shifted yet again. I continued.

"I know what it's like. Call it revenge, justice, whatever. In the end, it boils down to _escalation. _If you're going down this path, you need to know just where you stand. Stain won't hesitate to kill you, and you're far less experienced than the other heroes he's taken down. Ask yourself how far you're willing to go, and whether or not you're ready. Whether it's tomorrow, a week, a month or years later, it doesn't matter. Unless you're willing to play on the same level as him, you're only going to get hurt or worse."

"You're asking me to _kill him_?" he said, aghast. Good, he wasn't going too far down the path of vengeance just yet.

At the same time, it made him far more vulnerable if he _did_ try to fight Stain. Problematic.

"No," I said. "I'm telling you to consider that while you fight to capture, he fights to kill. He's willing to be far more aggressive. If you're not careful, you'll die. I'm not sure if anyone told you, but I told your class back in USJ that I'd nearly died on my first night out because of how inexperienced I was."

I let that sink in. "I don't know if you're going to listen to my advice. I hope you do. But trust me when I say that you're not ready for that just yet. You're inexperienced, playing by the books, while Stain probably knows every trick there is. You don't know a thing about his quirk or his physical abilities. All it takes is one mistake."

I fell silent, letting him think over my words. Eventually, he stood up straight once more, giving me a smile.

It was still a strained mask. He was probably still thinking about revenge.

"Thank you, Taylor-san. I'll keep your words in mind."

He bowed, then moved to the door.

"Wait," I called out. He paused, then turned to face me.

"Iida. You aren't alone. You know that, right?" I said. "I highly encourage you to think about it all and not try to find Stain. But if you do, at the very least do it smart. I don't know when you're planning on hunting down Stain, but when you do, make sure someone knows to watch your back. You've got my number, in any case."

He nodded stiffly, then turned and left the room.

I sighed, running my palm over my face. No good. He was still clouded by thoughts of revenge.

I could keep him restrained, but that wasn't a long-term solution. I could only hope he wasn't stupid enough to attempt hunting him down just yet. I'd better ask Aizawa to keep an eye out for him.

-o-o-o-

The rest of the week passed quickly. The offers from the heroes were accepted, and my students were getting ready to head off for their internships.

Itsuka had initially considered accepting the invitation by the hero Uwabami for her work in public engagement and image, but reconsidered and ultimately accepted an invite from Gunhead for his expertise in armed combat. More surprisingly, Neito had joined up with her. It seemed that he was seriously working toward improving in his combat in close quarters, with or without a borrowed quirk. Together with Uraraka, the three of them would hopefully gain some decent experience with the hero.

Ibara had opted to intern under the hero Kamui Woods. Like her, he was a Changer with a Shaker-like application, with a quirk eerily similar to Marquis' power. Where he manipulated bones, Kamui Woods could control the wood making up his body. I looked forward to seeing what tricks she might pick up over the week.

Setsuna had impressed Edgeshot enough to receive an offer from the hero. Their quirks were quite different, but with enough similarities in their Changer aspects that Setsuna could learn a thing or two.

I hadn't heard of most of the heroes that the rest would be working under. Regardless, they had all opted to go with heroes with quirks similar to their own, and had challenged me to a rematch after the week was done. I wondered just how much they could improve during the coming week.

Izuku had thankfully managed to find someone who seemed to know of ways to help with his quirk, going by the name Gran Torino. He'd apparently been a retired teacher of UA that taught All Might in the past. I didn't reveal just what I knew about the nature of their quirks, but wished him all the best. When he returned, if he could control his quirk sufficiently I was considering putting him to work with my version of Rachel's power.

I was more interested in the two students whose personal issues came up during the festival.

Shouto had very surprisingly gone with Endeavour's agency. I'd asked Aizawa about it, and was told that Shouto was dealing with some complex identity issues stemming from his tournament performance and the restrictions he'd placed on his own quirk. From what I had eavesdropped earlier during the week, it sounded like Shouto was having serious self-doubt and falling back to default habits under his father's thumb after the unexpected defeat. I thought that working under Endeavour might be a disaster waiting to happen, but Aizawa was of the opinion that allowing the interaction between the father and son duo would be beneficial for both parties.

Iida's choice was more worrying. He had opted to go under the hero Manual, someone that I'd never heard of before. Barely a minute of research later, and it was obvious just what Iida planned to do. Manual operated in Hosu, the same city where Stain had become active and where Ingenium had been attacked. I hoped that Iida took heed of my words enough to at least stick with other heroes while they worked to take down Stain.

Of course, I wasn't entirely certain regarding Iida's motivations. For all I knew, I could have been incredibly wrong. He might just have been a fan of the everyman hero. Manual was surprisingly popular in his community.

It was frustrating, dealing with someone as stubborn as Iida. I would need to convince Aizawa to allow me to keep an eye on him.

I made my way to a meeting room where I'd be meeting up with Aizawa and Shinsou. Aizawa was already seated in the room, dressed in his hero costume.

"Iida may be going after Stain," I told him directly.

He sighed, pinching his nose. "That idiot problem child," he said. "How do you know?"

"I had a chat with him on Wednesday, and he's working with Manual. It's a possibility."

"I'm going to bring him back," he said, rising from his chair. I gestured for him to sit.

"Don't. It wouldn't work," I said, shaking my head. "He's stubborn. He's like me, in a way. If you stop him now, he's only going to throw himself into more danger. I've been getting a sense of him with my bugs over the week, and he hasn't changed one bit. He'll be going for Stain one way or another. Hopefully, he'll remember my advice and at least make sure he's not alone."

"You're only telling me this now?" he asked, irritated.

"I only just found out about his internship," I said. "Anyway, I think the best thing would be to watch out for him."

"I'm still not happy with letting Iida go on his own." He refused to yield.

"Neither am I. Point is, we'll know this time where he is and who he's with. If we prevent him from going now, we might not get the same chance next time," I said, trying to convince Aizawa of my reasons.

He still looked angry, but remained calm enough to see where I was coming from. Did he know capes with similar experiences as well?

"Fine. I don't like it, but fine," he reluctantly forced out.

"Will you be alright with Shinsou on your own?" I asked.

He shook his head. "If Iida-kun's seriously going to be hunting down the Hero-Killer, I'm not going to leave him on his own. Shinsou-kun can do his training with us in Hosu. Besides, I can keep tabs on Endeavour and Shouto-kun as well."

Right, Endeavour's agency was also based in that city. More eyes to look out for Iida was always welcome.

"Yeah," I agreed. I noted the bugs that I'd tagged Shinsou with earlier in the day moving closer toward the room. "Shinsou's coming, by the way. We should continue this later."

"You've got a really useful quirk."

I shrugged. Sure enough, Shinsou made his way in.

"Aizawa-sensei, Taylor-san," he greeted. "Sorry that I'm late."

"It's fine," I said. "Take a seat."

He obliged, and I looked at Aizawa, silently asking if he wanted to conduct the briefing.

He nodded. "Shinsou-kun," he began. "Taylor-san and I will be taking you for training over the next week. You'll be excused from classes during that time. I'll be handling the combat aspect of things, while she'll work with you on your quirk. We'd originally planned for the training to be done in school, but some circumstances have changed. Are you alright to be in Hosu for the week?"

"Hosu?" he asked. "Why there? Isn't that where the Hero-Killer is?"

He certainly had a sharp mind. "Partly, yes. We need to keep an eye on Iida," I said. No sense keeping him in the dark about it.

"Ah," he said simply, without any other visible reaction. No doubt he knew about what had happened. I didn't need to explain any further.

"So what now?" he said instead.

"We'll be leaving on Monday morning after we get some arrangements made in the city. Pack what you need, and we'll meet up at the station near the school to head off," Aizawa told him.

Shinsou nodded. "Okay. Anything else?"

Aizawa turned to look at me, raising an eyebrow. Right, the big reveal.

"The other classes already know about me, but if you're going to join the hero course there's some things you need to know," I began.

"What things?" he asked curiously.

"First, you'll need to promise me that you'll keep this completely confidential. No negotiation."

He nodded, although there was confusion and apprehension in the way he'd done it.

"Say it out loud, please."

"I promise."

Fine. I moved on with my explanation.

"You know how I'm a teaching assistant despite being a first-year?" I asked. He nodded. "I'm a lot more experienced than the other students. I've done over two years of hero work prior to joining UA."

"How?" he asked with some confusion. "You're not allowed to do any hero work without a licence, and you need to be in a hero school to get one."

"Yeah," I agreed. Probably best to be direct. "Thing is, I'm not from around here. In fact, I'm not actually from this world."

I watched his expression change from intrigue, a short period where he'd processed my words, and then shock mixed with disbelief within seconds. There was an audible click of a shutter as Aizawa took an image of Shinsou's expression, a smirk on his face. I glared at him.

He shrugged. "I'm allowed to mess with my students. Never gets old."

"What do you mean, not from this world?" Shinsou asked when he'd finally recovered, ignoring Aizawa. I couldn't blame him for his fixation on the bigger issue.

"That's kind of a long story," I began. "You know the trouble at USJ that class 1-A had a few weeks back? I found myself appearing there…"

-o-o-o-

Shinsou didn't interrupt at all as I gave my highly abbreviated version of the circumstances that led me toward joining UA. It was only at the end, when I began to talk about power classifications, that he asked for clarification.

"So you're saying I'm a human Master?"

"Yes. A little more limited in terms of the conditions needed to activate it, but very versatile. What exactly is the limit of your quirk, anyway? The file that we have on hand doesn't provide me with much."

"More limited?" he repeated, shaking his head. "It's a villain's quirk –"

"I thought I told you not to call it that."

"People _think_ it's a villain's quirk," he corrected himself. "What kind of quirks have you seen in your world?"

I thought over his question. No harm in sharing, I supposed. "There was someone with a power like yours, only his orders required eye contact. Another person could implant suggestions when she sang. I knew someone who could alter and augment emotions at a massive range. Then someone else could also act more directly, causing twitching of muscles or directly puppeteering their bodies."

Valefor, Canary, Cherish, Regent. And –

"Then another person," I said. The words caught in my mouth for just a moment. "She had absolute control over anyone that came within sixteen feet. Once within her range, her control was inviolable, unless their own power gave them immunity. They would be locked inside their own bodies, while feeling everything that was being done to them."

"That's terrifying," he said. He hesitated for a moment. "That last one was personal?"

Had I let my composure slip when I talked about Khepri? Shinsou was definitely observant.

"Somewhat," was all I said.

"I'm sorry. What happened to her?" he responded. Did he think it personal in the sense that I'd come under Khepri's dominion? I wouldn't correct his mistaken presumption.

"It's fine. She's gone now." I waved him off. "More importantly, your quirk?"

He gave a practiced explanation. "I have to concentrate on a person for me to activate it. If they respond, I can issue orders to do as I say. Only simple tasks, nothing requiring complex brain activity. Repeating words is fine, for example, but I can't get them to divulge information. During that time, they won't remember anything that happened."

A low-to-mid grade Master power, then. On Earth Bet, internal PRT designation would probably place him at a Master 3 or 4, in the sense that a trained team of operatives could take him down without cape involvement, as long as they avoided triggering his quirk. He wouldn't be considered experienced enough in other ways to justify parahuman assistance.

"Any other limitations? Number of targets, time limits?" I asked.

"I _can_ technically give orders to more than one person, but it's hard. I need to concentrate on my target when I give the order," he said, considering carefully. "I suppose I could use my quirk on separate occasions to give orders to more than one person. It only works with voice produced through biological means, so I can't activate it through a speaker or if they respond through a phone. As for its limits, time doesn't seem to be an issue, but any kind of disruption breaks them out of my control."

"Disruption?" I asked for clarification.

He shrugged. "A stone's throw, a nudge; things along those lines."

That sounded familiar. Thirteenth Hour's power during my raid on the Adepts on my first mission with the rest of the wards came to mind. She could cause herself and anyone in the room to fall into a trance, conscious but helpless to act. Like Shinsou's quirk, her power could be broken by anything suitably jarring.

I had a hypothesis I wanted to test.

"Use your quirk on me."

He looked startled. "What?"

"Humour me. Something requiring a bit of time, maybe walking to the end of the room," I persuaded. "Aizawa's here, anyway. If anything goes wrong, he's on hand to erase your quirk."

He still looked uncertain, turning to look at Aizawa. The older hero nodded reassuringly.

"I'm not sure what Taylor-san is thinking about, but there won't be any trouble from this," he told Shinsou.

"Alright." He didn't sound convinced, but was willing to play along. "You'll need to respond."

"Sure," I said, waiting for his power to kick in.

"Walk to the end of the room," he ordered.

Instantly, I felt a very peculiar sensation. When I had looked into Valefor's eyes, my thoughts had dissolved into nothingness, a kind of odd, warm static. I didn't have control over my actions, but my unconscious mind still had a coarse control over my power, carrying out the intent of the orders I had planned for. I'd been able to pack his eyeballs with maggots at the time.

With Thirteenth Hour, it felt more like a dream; almost like scopolamine from the nightmare I had about Coil and Dinah. My thoughts had slowed, all sense of time eroded. It had been calming, relaxing, as though nothing in the world mattered. I had just barely enough grasp over my power to break myself out of her trance.

Shinsou's quirk seemed more like a hybrid of the two. I felt a compulsion take over, a sheer _need_ to walk to the end of the room while nothing else mattered, but mixed altogether with an indistinct understanding over the concept of the order I'd been given. With each step, each time I tried to consider what I was doing, my thoughts slipped out of my ethereal grasp. Most interesting.

Still, I had enough control over my power to break out of his spell. Parahuman powers always were kind of bullshit. As I'd done before with Thirteenth Hour, I flew a cockroach out from inside my costume, up my nose and down my throat, forcing myself to gag.

The dominion he had over me broke. I still remembered his order, but there was a distinct yet intangible sense of lack over my memory in the brief period that I'd been under his spell. I could see why his targets wouldn't remember what they'd been doing.

"Not bad," I said.

"That…" Shinsou was stunned. No one he'd tried his quirk on had ever broken themselves out, probably. "How?"

"Past experience. Call it a hunch that I had." I showed him the cockroach in my hand, then placed it back into my costume.

"Your quirk _is_ versatile," Aizawa said, impressed. I accepted the compliment.

I wanted to test the limits of his quirk more, to see whether speaking through my swarm would activate the use of his quirk, but I didn't want to reveal the full scope of my abilities yet.

"You retained control?" Shinsou asked. There was a mix of curiosity, excitement and wariness in his tone.

"Not completely," I said. "It's hard to describe. I _knew_ I had to walk, and I didn't really remember what else happened. I could still focus on my bugs and move them around slightly. Sometimes, power interactions just happen. Master powers don't always completely work on me."

Then again, I wasn't technically the source of my power, not in the same way quirks were. Administration was sequestered away in whatever extradimensional space the Entities operated in, and I doubted that Shinsou's power could touch her.

"More importantly though, it means that you can practice using your quirk on me without worrying about the consequences," I said. Thoughts and potential ideas for applications of his quirk were coming to mind, but I needed to define just what he could do. "For starters, you'll need to see just how complex your orders can get, whether there's limits on range or other parameters. I don't imagine you've been able to find willing volunteers to work with your quirk."

He shook his head. For once, there was a gleam of excitement in his eyes. I remembered how it'd been in the months after the Locker, as I experimented with just what I could do with my own power. He couldn't have had much of a chance to completely and thoroughly work things out for himself.

"When do we start?" he asked.

"Aizawa will work on your foundations and combat training first, since that's what's most lacking." I looked to Aizawa for confirmation. "Over the week, I'll find time for you to experiment with your quirk."

"You'll want to think of how you want to fight outside of your quirk," Aizawa cut in. "I'd like to teach you how to use a capture scarf like myself, but it'll be a long process. Otherwise, some martial arts training would also be helpful."

Shinsou nodded. "Thank you. Both of you," he said, his normally withdrawn mask breaking just a little more. "Really."

"We Masters have to stick together," I repeated the words that I'd told him. "I know a little about what it's like being labelled as a villain, anyway."

"You _were_ a villain," Aizawa pointed out. "I still don't like how you're not telling us all the details."

"It's not important. You know that I wouldn't do anything to harm the students."

That was always an area of contention between the two of us. We always fell back to this same uneasy agreement, but I knew he wouldn't completely trust me with more responsibility.

As always, he gave in, then addressed Shinsou. "We both don't use quirks that enhance our own abilities. I know what it's like having to train yourself from scratch and rely on technique rather than overwhelming force. Taylor-san's done the same, if you've seen her training exercise."

"People tend to underestimate what we can do outside of our powers. Take advantage of that fact," I added my own perspective.

Shinsou nodded. "It's something I've been thinking about, after the festival. Outside of capturing the fake villains and using my quirk on people who didn't know about it, I couldn't do a thing."

"I might have to learn how to do the same, now that I only have one arm to work with," I aired my thoughts aloud. "I could try using insects to manipulate a scarf rather than throwing it around. Do you have any spares I could try using?"

"I do, but couldn't you just use your bugs to capture villains anyway? I heard about what you did to the Noumu."

"Braiding threads together takes some time, and I'm not always going to have access to a large number of spiders, even if the silk of some strains may be tougher than your scarf," I informed him. "A backup option could always be handy. I had a knife, baton and pepper spray before."

"Mhmm," he hummed in agreement. "You're very prepared. I'll see what I can do."

"Thanks," I said. Then, I turned toward Shinsou. "You know, you took my revelation rather well, all things considered."

"I _am _surprised," he clarified. "But Aizawa-sensei seems to agree with all of what you said. I don't see a reason for you to lie about any of this."

Lie, no. Obscure the truth, yes.

"I wasn't there when Aizawa and Kan told their classes, but they apparently hadn't taken to the news easily." It had taken so long for them to settle down that my impromptu class had been cut short.

He shrugged his shoulders, but didn't otherwise comment any further.

"Okay then. Any more questions, Shinsou-kun?" Aizawa asked. The boy shook his head. "Fine. I'll see you on Monday. I need to make arrangements for Hosu and let Manual know to watch out for Iida-kun."

"Spend some time thinking about your quirk and any support items you may need. We can liaise with the Support Department after the week is over to work on your equipment," I said.

He nodded, offered his thanks once more, then left the room.

"Anything else regarding Iida? We were interrupted, earlier," I asked once he was out of earshot.

"Not about Iida-kun, no. I don't like it, but I'll make sure Manual has him on a tight leash. There's something else, though." He stared at me intensely. "That Master you were talking about. That wasn't just personal, was it?"

Damn, Aizawa was _sharp_. I'd have to consider him as a very low-grade Thinker in addition to his Stranger abilities that didn't tie in with his quirk.

"Something like that," I said.

"I suppose you won't be telling me?"

"No." Khepri wasn't something I wanted to talk about, ever.

"Hmm." He continued staring for awhile longer. "You're keeping many secrets."

"Can you blame me?"

He didn't reply directly. "You can't keep it up forever, you know," he said instead.

I knew that. Secrets had torn apart my world. Cauldron and their manipulation, Coil and his plots, the truth behind Parahuman powers and more. The facts that I'd concealed weren't anywhere close to their level of potency, but I knew how dangerous secrets could be.

Still, I wasn't willing to trust them fully just yet. Besides, they wouldn't accept many of the things that I'd done.

"If that's all?" I asked.

He nodded slowly, still looking closely at me. I stood up and left the room. A short while later, my bugs indicated that Aizawa did the same.

-o-o-o-

I was dressed in my full costume, flight pack included. New additions to my costume were my procurement of a collapsible baton and a tube of pepper spray, just as I had done as Skitter.

I felt only slightly out of place alongside Aizawa and Shinsou still dressed in their civilian attire. The former didn't like publicly being associated with his hero identity, given his status as an underground hero, while Shinsou didn't have a hero costume prepared. I wouldn't compromise on being prepared and chose to remain in costume. There wouldn't be a way for me to easily transport my flight pack otherwise.

We fell into an easy silence on the train. All three of us weren't the type to make unnecessary conversation. I was thankful for that; it was a refreshing change from Setsuna forcing me to speak.

Of course, all three of us were recognised by the public on the train, with them not bothering to hide their pointed fingers and hushed murmurs. It wasn't something I was too unfamiliar with. I had needed to command authority after Leviathan's attack, and people knew to recognise me. After I'd been outed as a cape, my identity no longer remained a secret.

Still though, this was a different kind of recognition. Their admiration was quite clear, although some appeared to be wary of approaching our group. I wasn't sure whether it was because they were worried of Shinsou's quirk or the way we'd carried ourselves during the festival.

It was right then that someone finally came up to speak directly to us. So much for peace and quiet.

"You're Taylor-san, the teaching assistant from UA, right?" The person asked excitedly. A young kid, probably quite a few years younger than Shinsou. "And you must be Shinsou-san! I saw both of you on television! You two were amazing!"

Shinsou probably wasn't used to that kind of praise, because the retort he'd been ready to fire at the vilification of his quirk died on his lips, looking surprised.

I didn't quite know how to respond. Tecton was always the one dealing with PR on the Chicago Wards. "Yeah," I said lamely.

"Your quirks are so cool! You're dressed up in costume; are you going to do some hero work? That's amazing!" he gushed.

I stole a glance at Aizawa. He remained seated contently, silently gesturing for me to handle this on my own. Annoying.

"You're interested in heroes?" I asked the kid. He was far too enthusiastic for just someone who'd watched us on television.

"Yeah!" he rattled on excitedly. "I want to be a hero too when I grow up! I'm going to be applying for UA when I get the chance!"

His enthusiasm was beginning to draw a crowd. Some of the passive onlookers had drawn closer now, listening in on our conversation. So much for a quiet train ride.

"Good for you. Just remember that being a hero is a lot harder than it seems."

"I'm not afraid!" he protested indignantly. "I'm going to become a hero like All Might, and I'll fight all the bad guys!"

"It's more than just that," I explained patiently. "You watched the Sports Festival. You saw how all the students chose different ways to go about the first two events. I don't know about your quirk or what you're interested in, but fighting villains is only a very small part of heroism."

"Yeah," Shinsou agreed, finally taking part in the conversation. He crouched low to meet the child at eye-level. "Being a hero isn't that easy. You saw my quirk. People… they don't really like how it works. I don't know what your quirk is, but if it's anything like mine you'll be fighting an uphill battle."

"Oh," the boy said, looking down at the floor. He hesitated slightly, before whispering at a low volume. "I'm quirkless."

At that admission, I could visibly see the onlookers react. Some were astonished, others were embarrassed. They clearly didn't think much of the quirkless. I frowned. I hadn't planned to get too heavily involved with the kid, but I didn't like how the quirkless were treated in society. It reminded me too much of how many capes saw civilians as free collateral back in Brockton Bay, how the authorities didn't intervene unless the gangs took serious measures to upset the power struggle.

"Hey," I said, then copied Shinsou to kneel with one knee on the floor. I waited for him to look me in the eyes. "It doesn't matter. Maybe you can't work as a hero in the same way. There's always other ways to help people."

If anything, that made him feel worse, because the few bugs on his person sensed his agitation. I quickly moved on to what I really wanted to say.

"But maybe you can," I said as convincingly as I could. His gaze focused sharply on mine.

The PRT on my world had been an organisation of unpowered individuals. They were the bread and butter of parahuman society, dealing with everyday parahuman incidents. Sure, they relied on fancy equipment such as containment foam manufactured by Dragon, but more than that they had the training, squad tactics and intelligence needed to deal with threats.

After all, wasn't it the Dragon's Teeth officer that had managed to contain Jack Slash at the very end?

"You could work on support equipment. Sometimes, brains are more important than muscle out on the field," I said. "But if you're dead-set on working up close and personal, I do believe that you can do it."

"Miss, are you sure you should be telling the kid that?" One of the onlookers asked, clear apprehension in her voice. "It's not good to give false hope."

The kid turned to look sharply at her, some tears seen building up in his eyes. I was causing more of a commotion than I thought.

"I'm telling the truth," I said. His head snapped back toward me. "Look at Shinsou, for example. Outside of his quirk, he's the same as you. Without _mine_, I have one less arm than you."

Shinsou nodded, although he probably wasn't quite on the same page as me. He didn't interrupt, but he clearly had some thoughts on the matter.

"More important than quirks are how you think in the field. Heroes today have support equipment of all sorts. You saw how the Nezu-bot worked, how none of the students could stand up against it. Principal Nezu may have piloted it with some assistance from his quirk, but its design stemmed entirely from here."

I pointed a finger at his forehead. "_That_'_s_ what's most important as a hero. Not your quirk, but your brain. The three of us, our quirks don't function like the top heroes." I gestured at Aizawa, Shinsou and myself. "We don't have All Might's strength and speed or Endeavour's firepower. We plan, we adapt and we use our heads in a fight. I don't think it's an exaggeration for me to say that I'm ten times more effective when carrying out a plan than when caught out by surprise."

"You really think I can do it?" his voice trembled. There was a flicker of hope in it.

"I won't lie to you. As Shinsou said, you'll have a hell of an uphill battle to fight. It might not be worth it," I said.

"I'm not going to give up!" he declared, wiping the tears from his eyes. They remained red, but now there was determination in them. The crowd was silent apart from some mixed whispers between a few people. Some of them had their phones out.

They didn't matter. This was about the kid. I looked him in the eyes a few moments longer, measuring him for myself.

"Good," I said finally. "Make sure you remember what I said. More than anything, you'll have to train yourself hard and fight smart. I'm not sure if you heard my students during the festival, but without a quirk, more than ever you'll have to fight villains at their own game. You'll need to plan well and use your head. You'll need to find advantages that you can make use of. But more importantly, you'll need to _understand_ them, know to pick your battles. Not all villains are alike."

"Will that really be enough?" he asked hesitantly.

"People… we rely on our quirks far too much. People underestimate what we can do without them. I knew a villain from some time back that was taken down by a quirkless person, where other heroes had been killed by his hand."

I wondered how Jack Slash would feel about simply labelling him as a nameless 'villain'. Technically accurate, but altogether terribly insufficient.

"How?" he asked.

"He used his brain, and he had equipment and training to back that up." Of course, there was also the fact that the Dragon's Teeth officer didn't register to Jack's Thinker secondary power, allowing him to catch him by surprise, but that wouldn't really encourage the kid. "Do the same, work hard, and maybe you can be a hero. Even if you can't operate directly, as I've said before, support work plays a critical and possibly greater role than heroes out in the field."

He nodded, more determined this time. "Right!"

I patted him on the shoulder, then returned to my seat. The boy remained where he was, still looking at Shinsou and myself. He visibly deliberated on something, then stepped forward.

"Can I have your autograph?" he asked, his gaze alternating between Shinsou and myself as he took out a book and pencil.

Aizawa snorted in amusement. Funny, of the three of us, only the actual hero hadn't been addressed by the kid. I wasn't sure what he thought about my impromptu pep-talk, but I took his lack of interruption as a sign of approval.

"Sure," I said, humouring the boy's request. I had done some of this before in the Chicago Wards. Shinsou did likewise, with some traces of embarrassment on his face.

I gave the contents of the book a quick glance. Hero history? I was reminded of myself growing up all those years ago, playing heroes and villains with Emma.

"Keep working on things like this," I said, gesturing at the book. "Understand quirks and villains. Question their motivations and reasoning. If you want to make it far as a quirkless person, you'll need to know how heroes and villains work."

He nodded excitedly, placing the book back into his bag. He gave both of us a deep bow, then retreated quickly.

Funny. I didn't even get his name.

The crowd was beginning to disperse now that the kid left. Some clearly didn't agree with my words, but didn't otherwise comment. Most were indifferent. I couldn't actually find anyone who seemed to think that the kid might make it.

Society here was really different from back home.

"Hey," Shinsou whispered. "Back there, what you said. Was all of that true?"

I nodded, checking to make sure no one could hear us. "We didn't have enough capes to deal with all Parahuman incidents. Trained PRT squads were the cornerstone of cape society."

"And that last bit about the villain?"

I smiled wryly. "Would you believe me if I told you that the villain was the leader of the Slaughterhouse Nine?"

He made a choked gasp, drawing attention from Aizawa and some onlookers. Aizawa was probably going to question me about that later. I had made sure not to downplay what the Nine had done in my brief explanation of my circumstances, without highlighting my personal involvement in their affairs.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah," I told him. "I'll tell you more later."

He nodded in acceptance. We fell into silence once more. Minutes later, the city of Hosu came into view.

Right then. Hopefully, things would all go without a hitch. Shinsou would get some training in, Iida would remain sensible and not get himself killed, and Shouto would work out some of the issues he had with his mental state, with his quirk and with Endeavour. When I returned, Midoriya would be able to use his quirk without blowing himself up, and my students would impress me at our rematch.

Of course, I didn't exactly have a good track record with Murphy's law.

* * *

**Many things are the same as canon here, with the major exception of Taylor, Aizawa and Shinsou heading off to Hosu. I'm thinking that this arc will set the scene for some differences from canon once Stain and Shigaraki make their moves.**

**Not sure if my reasons for why Aizawa didn't immediately pull the plug on Iida make sense, given how we've seen him threaten expulsion to those on the rescue team in canon, but I was thinking that there's always the uncertainty that they might be overthinking things. That, and the fact that Iida hadn't technically done anything wrong just yet. Iida's also been generally the responsible one in his class.**

**Hopefully Todoroki's thinking also makes sense when put together with his segment two chapters ago. He's a little lost following his defeat and dealing with self-doubt following his misinformation regarding Shinsou's quirk, and cruising along with how things had been in the past rather than actively making judgment calls for himself. He'll be getting some development soon, though.**

**Incidentally, it seems that more people that I thought are coming into this fic familiar with only one of the two story settings. I hope that you've been able to follow the story so far, but let me know if more exposition is needed to explain either setting. On that same note, there's going to be some stuff from BNHA canon happening that I won't repeat here, but I'll try to have it make sense when things finally interact with Taylor.**


End file.
